


Perarroch

by Odvie



Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types, The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types
Genre: Adoptive hobbit family, Asshole Thranduil, BAMF Belladonna Took Baggins, Don't joke with delivering letters, Elrond deserves love, Elrond is patient, F/M, Hurt Bilbo Baggins, M/M, Magic-Users, Modern Girl in Middle Earth, Multi, Slow Burn, The Sackville are jerks, Young Bilbo Baggins, dwarves can be assholes, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-22
Updated: 2021-02-23
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:02:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 30
Words: 64,845
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23267419
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Odvie/pseuds/Odvie
Summary: A modern girl mangles a ritual and find herself lost in Middle Earth in a dire posture. She will find a new family, new friends, new foes and who the hell is the presence in her head ?! And magic still have its perks, as usual.
Relationships: Bilbo Baggins & Original Female Character(s), Bilbo Baggins & Thorin's Company, Elrond Peredhel/Original Female Character(s), Erestor/Glorfindel (Tolkien), One-sided Lindir/Elrond Peredhel, Other Relationship Tags to Be Added
Comments: 189
Kudos: 165





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own The Hobbit. I don't own Lord of the Rings. I only own my OC. English is not my first language, so I apologize for any typos.

###### Prologue :

Pain...  
Blood and pain...  
Something was wrong... It shouldn't have ended like this. She felt more than she heard her familiar crying in agony in her mind, severing the bond.  
Her body felt foreign to her... Something was utterly wrong...  
"I think I've made a mistake..."  
And that the last thought before she lost her balance and fell on the ground, uncounscious and bleeding.

Birds songs woke her up and she winced : it was loud. Her whole body was in pain and she could feel hunger clench her stomack as if she hadn't eaten for days. She was thirsty too. Moving was hard : her muscles were sore and weak. She could feel grass under her and the wind cooling her skin. Where was she ? Where were her clothes ? She had been wearing clothes during the ritual !  
The ritual...  
Something had been wrong with it... But what exactly ? The instructions had been followed to the letter.  
...  
Were the instructions wrong ?  
She wished she could find out as soon as she would find back civilization.  
Standing up was hard, and it was even harder to walk. She was more dragging her bare feet than actually walking, but she knew she had to move. The place was beautiful, the grass luxuriant. The wind was cold but she had to go on.  
She needed help.  
The ritual had been mangled somehow. And that was dangerous for any magic user. She was lucky to be still alive, even if she could not recognize the place. She needed to be checked over and recover from any lasting effect. Her magic was still present, helping her body to function as she was suffering from the lack of water and food, and that thing alone was a miracle itself : she could have lost it by mangling the ritual.  
Her mind was fogged by the pain and lack of food and water, but something was amiss : a foreign presence was here. Her own mind was pushing it away on instinct. A magic welder should never let someone or something possess your mind. The foreign presence seemed amused. She shook herself mentally : she should be weaker than she thought if she could imagine a presence being amused in her own mind... Maybe delirious...  
Finally !  
A road was over there ! If only her feet would carry her a little bit longer...  
Her whole body swayed : even her magic was failing... Breathing was hard and the coolness of the wind was now being more cold and harsh in her weakened state.  
The presence seemed concerned. She ignored it and forced herself to walk.  
When she fell on the ground, the road was close. It wasn't a road like in her home. Her roads were made of asphalt, those were made of dirt and flat stones.  
She found out she was too tired to care for it. The grass was doing a poor job in shielding her from the wind and her vision was becoming blacker as the seconds passed.  
She didn't react when hooves clapping sounds and an old male voice called her, having lost counciousness a while ago.


	2. Chapter 2

###### Chapter 1 :

"... !"  
Someone was calling her...  
"... up !"  
Why should she wake up? She was warm and comfortable here.  
"Lit... need... up !"  
Alright, alright, if this male voice was so decided on ruining her sleep...  
She opened her eyes...  
And closed them immediatly.  
Too bright !!  
"Finally !"  
This was the voice of an old man, not like the one bothering her earlier... Strange... She tried to reopen her eyes, this time carefully and saw a small old man with white hair.  
Very small.  
How was it possible to be that small ?!  
"Good morning, young lady." Greeted the old man. "I found you near the road three days ago. Completly naked. If I didn't know better, I would say that you Tall Folks have strange habits, but this is not in your customs to wander in the wild naked. Have you been kidnapped or something like that ? Is someone looking for you I should be aware of ?"  
Three days ? How could she be still alive ?  
Her stomach growled loudly and she blushed in embarassment. She was starving !  
"Alright." Chuckled the small man. "Time to eat, Young Lady. We gave you water and medecine, but good meals are the best way to regain sthrenght. My name is Sigeric Longhole. And you are ?"  
She opened her mouth and only managed to croack a hoarse "Eileen." that made the man chuckle before handing her a -small- glass of water.  
"Well, Eileen. You look like it's the first time you see a hobbit.  
-Is it what you are called ?  
-The Tall Folks call us Halflings. But we are no halves of anything ! We are our own.  
-Oh. I understand."  
It seemed she wasn't in her own world anymore... How did she end here ?  
"I need to ask : are the ears and tail natural or...?"  
She froze at his words : ears and tail ?! What ?! She spotted a mirror and nearly fell of the bed by trying to get up. Her legs were weak and unsteady. She kneeled in front of the mirror and looked.  
Oh.  
Her skin was pale and her body was just skin and bones. Her long chestnut hair were dull and falling down her back. Her eyes were green with hints of amber. But the most unsettling were the ears and the long tail, covered in chestnut fur and what seemed to be black horsehair.  
Equine ears and tail ? Was she part creature, now ? She looked at her body and shivered : she could actually count her ribs and that was scaring her. What the hell was she ?  
The presence in her head was trying to soothe her and she left the mirror to fetch a blanket to hide her hideous body.  
She ignored the disapproving feeling coming from the presence : yes she was finding her body hideous. She had always been to thin for the likes of everyone. She was used to it. After all, as her mother always said :  
"Men don't like walking squeletons."  
And yet, she had never been autorized to gain weight, or she would look like a stupid fat cow ready for slaughter (her mom's words)... She remembered being horrified by images of overly obese people stuffing themselves with junk food. The memories alone were still shaking her.  
"Hey, Young One !" Called Sigeric. "Second breakfast is ready."  
...  
Second breakfast ? Seriously ?  
She really had a lot to learn in this world...  
The presence approved.

Her first day with hobbits had been fascinating and exhausting. First, she had learnt about the existence of hobbits, dwarves and elves. Then, she had been told about goblins, and it seemed goblins were not the sort of people to hang out with.   
Some hobbit-women (hobbitesses as she learned) found her clothes who could fit her thin frame. The local tailor would need her measurments to create better clothes but it would do for now. Hobbits seemed to be nice people in general. They were living in underground houses, called smials, in a very rural area. The land where they lived was called the Shire, and, as a hobbitess called Belladona told her, if she was lucky enough, she could even find elves in the forests. Eileen wasn't sure if she was ready to meet elves... It would be too much for a first day.  
The presence chuckled in her head and she frowned : who or what was actually in her head ? She would have to investigate this when she would be better but for now, it didn't seem hostile...  
Another thing she learnt was the number of meals.  
Who the hell needed to eat six times a day ?!  
Hobbits, apparently... And they could eat more than a full grown man. How someone that small could eat so much food ?  
For her, three meals and a light snack were more than enough. But well : new world, new people, new customs...  
Hobbits were barefooted and she had to learn to walk without shoes, realizing how much she had been sheltered in her past life and unable to experience so many things. Walking barefooted in the grass was the best thing ever ! How could she have never done this ?  
Sigeric and Belladonna actually laughed at the young girl discovering the wonders and trials of walking without shoes. Yes, the grass was great, but pebbles... not that great...  
Gardening was a big thing too with hobbits, and that picked a big interest in Eileen who had never seen someone gardening. The whole concept was unfamiliar to her, having only read about it in a book. That and fishing...  
She had so much to learn...

As she recovered, her magic got stronger as the days passed, making her have some magical outbursts, at first startling the hobbits and herself, then making laugh everyone because some thing could be utterly ridiculous.  
Needless to say : the Matriarch of the Sackville family with pink clothes and hair(s) had been a sight for days. Eileen had been ashamed of this, but Sigeric and Belladonna were still laughing and trying to incourage her to do other feats like this with the the worst of the Sackville family.  
Belladonna seemed to have taken the young girl under her wing and to teach her everything she knew.  
So Eileen learned : from the basics of cooking to sword(dagger)-fighting, from gardening to hunting and fishing from Sigeric, who insisted on being called "Grandpa" as he had always wanted grandchildren, and she even got lessons in knitting by some hobbitesses and sewing, even if she was really bad at it.  
As much as she could understand the usefulness of sewing and knitting... she was just bad at it. The outdoors were more her thing as she felt a close connection with nature.  
The presence in her head was more clearer, definitly a male one and friendly. She couldn't speak to him for now but he seemed to catch her thoughts or impressions. She got not much in return, just his emotions about things, no words, images or sentences. Maybe she needed to work on it to find out what it was exactly. Was it a bond ? Something else ?  
And as for the ears and tail, she had managed to shrink them into her body, looking like a normal human woman, but since her magic was coming back, her hair changed, from her skull to shoulder, it was still chestnut, the rest was as black as her horsetail. She shrugged it : magic was weird sometimes, it was best to not try to understand.  
Finally, she felt her magic being whole again, but things were missing.  
She didn't have a wand anymore... And her familiar was probably dead, or left alone in her ancient world. Her bond with her familiar had been severed during the blasted ritual... She had felt it. The magic had demanded a sacrifice greater than herbs, fruits and wine that night... But why ?  
What had happened exactly that night ?

Since her magic was a bit out of control, she decided to find a tree she could use to create another wand for her. But which wood to take ? Each one had it own properties... Well, her last one was made of willow with a handle made of white oak. It had been made by her master... Well, she had no master now... she had to do her wand by herself.  
But first, she needed to find the needed trees, and take their fallen branches. When, she would carve her own wand. Her first had been small, merely the side of her forearm, like a Harry Potter wand. She wanted a longer one, maybe like a cane... Something she would not loose as easily and use it for fight if needed. A staff was out of the question : too big and too heavy, and she sucked at staff-fighting.  
Belladonna happily helped to find the trees. Willow was easy to found near the river, but the white oak was trickier. Only the forests could be the home of these honorable trees... Finding one and getting a large fallen branch had been a hardship but Eileen and Belladonna were happy to do it.  
Eileen was going to carve her own wand and get her magic under control, and Belladonna would see if she could use her magic for some pranks against the Sackville family.  
Carving the willow branch into a stick had taken two days of constant work for the human girl who had sat under an apple tree and talked to herself while working on her pieces of woods.  
Sigeric had walked regulary to check on her work in progress, adding some advice on how she could add patterns into the wood and finally proposing to make himself the handle. She accepted and he went back hours later with a beautiful wooden horse head.  
Her wand was now finished and she needed to attune it by integrating her own hair to the wood, so it would only work for her. A wand not attuned by hair or blood would work for anyone with magic and this could be bad if the wand's owner was disarmed or worse. Blood could permit anyone sharing her blood to use the wand, like a family member or, rare but it could happen, a vampire having drunk her blood. Hair would bond the wand to her and only her. Some rumors in her world were disagreeing over the fact that a hair-attuned wand could obey the owner's soulmate but nothing had been really proven... But then, magic was strange sometimes.  
And thats how she was now proudly standing with her cane-wand, made of light wood and successfully keeping her magic more or less in check. Now, she could train herself to burn it out and keep in under control.   
The problem was here : magic was energy. If having a large magical core had helped her to survive the mangled ritual and had been nearly entirely depleted, having it back at his full potential was making her restless and she needed to burn it off. 

Belladonna had decided to take her on treks in the Shire, exploring the forests and the other hobbits towns. The trips were interesting so far and she learned a lot about the cultural differences between hobbits families.  
For example, the Took were adventurous by nature and such considered as crazy by others families. Baggins were considered as the most respectable hobbits. The Sackville were just jerks. The Brandibuck lived next to the river and were the only hobbits to know how to swim and navigate on water. The Bracegirdie were bigger jerks. The Gamgee were nice and specialized in gardening, working mostly as gardeners for other families. And a lot more...

But the Shire wasn't so peaceful, the presence of border guards, called Shirriffs, patrolling the roads was a sign, thieves and wolves were another. If the wolves were avoiding the two-legged creatures, thieves weren't, and Eileen learned it the hard way.  
Belladonna and her were walking back to Hobbiton when six full-grown men had jumped them. Belladonna had been the first to react, drawing her sword out and cutting in without even blinking. Eilenn had more troubles with fighting and her magic had flared up without warning. One of the thieves got thrown away by a powerfull kick and it had been the last thing she recalled from the fight, before coming back to her senses with blood on her daggers and clothes, and a hobbitess calling her to calm down that the fight was done and no more danger was around. Ah, and she had extra limbs too...  
Her lower body was one of a horse, a bay horse, like her familiar, but slightly different : the legs were longer, the body thinner and she looked like a gangly centauress, with chestnut horse fur and her long black tail falling on the ground. Her upper half was the same size as when she was human, but the horse body was making her taller. She was towering Belladonna more than usual. The only positive sign was her now settled down magic. But there was some problems : how to control a six-limbed body and most importantly, how to shift back ?!


	3. Chapter 3

###### Chapter 2 :

To say that Sigeric was surprised was an euphemism... His only thought on this whole ordeal has been : "What the hell ?! How ?!"  
They had to help the half horse/half-woman to move around and walk -"It's called a centaur, thank you !"- because 4 legs weren't easy to coordinate and the body was longer, the balance was different, the height was different. After managing to get a clumsy and uncoordinated Eileen into his smial, the two hobbits were more talking about what happened exactly and how it was possible.  
Eileen was more busy trying to NOT fall into a panic attack : what had happened ? Why ? How ? How long ?  
She felt the presence trying to calm her down, sending soothing and comforting feelings by their bond. Just as her magic started to act up again, someone threw a blanket on her upper body, shielding her from the view of the world and hugged her tight, speaking with a comforting voice.  
This was Belladonna.  
She forced herself to take deep breaths and listened to the hobbitess talking about how it was going to be alright, how those thieves were not going to come back for some time and how she was going to train to control the shifting ability and how to fight against the Tall Folk.  
The presence agreed on the training point and continued to send the soothing feelings. Sigeric told her how it was important for a woman to be able to protect herself. Hobbits were peaceful, but the Tall Folk and Dwarves were not, and some were more despicable than others. Some hobbitesses had been violently attacked and raped in the past, and even the Sherriffs could not do miracles against a gang of dwarves thugs or human thieves. Eileen shivered. This world wasn't safer than hers : the danger was still here, lungering and she had to get stronger if she wanted to survive, even with the peaceful hobbits.  
She folded her 4 legs under her body and took her decision : she couldn't stay protected until the end of times, she needed to hold her own and kick asses, litteraly. She would work on weapon training and she would train her magic on the offensive ways. She needed to be stronger and those thieves weren't going to attack her anymore !  
"There is a warrior inside you." Spoke Sigeric. "It's hidden under your gentle nature but still here. You need to harness it, to accept it and to use it. You can be our nice nature-witch and protect yourself and others from harm. Think about it. And get your normal legs back."

It took her hours to find out how to shift back. She had been trying to force by body to shrink down, to visualize her human body and to force it to shift but it had never worked, until she heard Belladonna and Sigeric talking about how it felt to wear some clothes made of certains fabrics or different wools. Feels... Sensations... Why hadn't she thought about that sooner ? Feels of being human... Being smaller, having feet, no hooves, no horse tail, and walking barefooted in the grass... Her magic acted and she felt her body shrinking until she felt it purring and settling down. Everything was more familiar... She looked behind her and smiled : she had done it !  
Sigeric whooped in triumph when he saw her with the blanket on her shoulders but walking on two legs, her balance a bit off due to the sudden change but she was getting better and better.  
Belladonna smiled : Eileen didn't need to know how terrifying she had been in her "centaur" form against the thieves. Her magic had been visible around her, swinging and turning like a furious wind, her eyes had been glowing in an amber-like color and sparkles had been emmitted before she had striked. Her magic was powerful and her blows had been more destructive, even with simple daggers. Sigeric's protegee was a powerful magic-wielder, and she needed to be handled with care. Eileen was never talking about her past life but something had told the hobbits than it had been difficult, just by watching how she discovered their world with childish wonder, and taking joy over the simplest things. Of course, under the happy and caring late-teenager, there was a fierce warrior who needed to be trained, but she needed gentle care and understanding. Belladonna sighed : she and Bungo already had a child, but adopting a human teenager as a honorary Took-Baggins would not be a bad thing either. Bilbo would gain a big sister, and Eileen would gain a family.

Years passed slowly : Eileen was now an adult in human years, but still young in the hobbits'eyes, meaning she was still called "Young One" by Grandpa Sigeric who was getting older and older. Since his adoptive granddaughter had done mastering her shifting to centaur form and back, he had taken the habit of having long walks near the hills where he told her childstories about mischevious elves in the woods and how his last wish was to meet some member of the Fair Folk, as hobbits called elves. Eileen promised him they would find some elves before his time and she did her best to look around to find at least one. Young Bilbo was often coming with them, helping as he could, and listening to the stories as well.  
Walking in the hills was their favorite activity, Eileen's hooves clapping softly on the ground as, like Bilbo liked to say, they were trying to spot elves for Grandpa Sig'.  
She learned to fight thieves and wolves in the hills and swamps. Bilbo had been fast on learning to use a sword, thanks to his mother Belladonna who was still going on adventures somewhere in or outside the Shire. Bungo refused to go with them : no respectable hobbit would go on an adventure ! Still, Bilbo and Eileen were outside, playing like siblings and exploring the forests.  
The hobbit was a fearless horse rider, due to his habit of riding a centaur who could run faster than any horse when her magic powered her legs. The speed was amazing and he loved the wind in his hair.  
They still couldn't find elves but they were sure they would find at least one, someday.  
Eileen still had the foreign presence in her head. They still couldn't exchange words or images but she was fine with it. It could feel her emotions and she could sometimes feel his. She still didn't know his name but she was trustful : druids always had a soulmate, and the bond would help her to identify her one. Since her longevity depended on her soulmate, she wondered who he was and what he was. The only thing she knew is that she wasn't aging since adulthood, or aging very slowly...  
Belladonna had laughed when she had learned about druids and their particularities and told her that the best would for her mate to NOT be a dwarf, since last time she had met a group of dwarves thugs, all of them had been running tail between legs after getting their own ass handed and sparkly rainbow beards. No dwarves robbers allowed in Hobbiton !  
Grandpa Sigeric had been less trilled about the mate-thing. Since knowing that, he was spending more time watching the young male hobbits who dared to speak to his granddaughter of choice. No one would dare to court his granddaughter without his benediction first !

Everything was fine until that fateful winter.

Winter were usually mild in the Shire, but this one was unusually harsher and cold, forcing everyone to stay hidden into their smials. The rivers were frozen solid and the ice was thick enough for people to walk on it. Eileen was restless : Sigeric was suffering from the cold and it was too cold for him to leave the warmth of the fireplace. The windows were frozen and they were tales of hobbits dying in their sleep, killed by the cold. Decided to protect her family of choice, she made her best to search for wood and food everyday, hunting in the woods in her centaur form. Her larger body stood the cold better by her thin human frame and it helped to carry wood and provisions.  
The cattle was often attacked by wolves, and since the Shirrifs couldn't keep watch without risking dying of cold, the cattle had been sheltered inside empty smials as soon as they could.  
Eileen shivered when she found a frozen dead cow in the snow. The carcass had been partially devoured by predators and many prints were presents around the dead animal. Wolf prints.  
She didn't like it at all : the wolves were too close to Hobbiton.  
Sigeric was growing weaker as it was more and more difficult to keep the smial warm due to the freezing temperatures. Eileen started employing her magic to create wards to keep the temperature from freezing, at least in the living-room where she slept with the elderly hobbit for warmth.  
The wolves howled every nights and sometimes they could hear them growling outside, just below the windows and behind the doors. Not knowing what to do, she decided to keep watch during the nights, stocking the fireplace so the fire wouldn't die out and protect her adoptive grandpa from the cold.  
One night, the wolves started attacking the smials.  
It had been a trying night, she had been on alert the whole time, daggers in hands just in case, but the doors holded on and the beasts left at dawn, leaving an exhausted human druid and a weak elderly hobbit.  
The wolves were slowly becoming bolder. They knew the cattle was hidden inside the underground houses. And all the houses were hiding easy preys to munch on. They were hungry and they wanted food.  
Sadly, the hobbits were hungry too and needed food as well. The reserves were starting to get low and some desesperates decided to leave the safety of their smials to search for provisions.  
A devastating mistake...  
The wolves attacked Hobbiton and preyed on the weak hobbits shivering in the cold while trying to feed their families.  
Bungo was one of these hobbits.  
It was Belladonna's screams who alerted Eileen. She raced outside, shifting in her four-legged form and froze at the horror scene.  
Blood.  
Blood everywhere and hobbits screaming in terror and pain as the beasts were working their jaws to rip them appart.  
So she fought. Her daggers slashed the furs, her hooves kicked and crushed. The enraged starving beasts were a force to reckon but she ignored the creeping desesperation in her mind. Those wolves needed to leave ! Jaws closed on her legs and body but she didn't care, screaming in a rage what wasn't fully her own. That burning rage powered her magic and gave her more speed and strenght, helping her against her numerous opponents.  
The sun was down when the wolves stopped howling and attacking. Eileen panted heavily as the remaining beasts were running away, crying in pain and defait. Her whole body was hurting. Blood was dripping from numerous wounds. She choked back a sob when she found her adoptive mother, lifeless in the snow, surrounded by blood, her throat ripped open by sharp fangs.  
Belladonna had died while trying to protect her faithful husband. She started to feel dizzy as she looked around and saw the maimed corpses of hobbits lying on the frozen grounds, along with the killed wolves.  
This had been a slaughter...  
Bilbo's scream brought her back to present and she galoped, following the sounds : Grandpa's smial ! And there were animal growls inside.  
Oh no !  
Why was the door open ?!  
She entered the smial as best as she could with her centaur body and froze : Bilbo was here, with a sword in his hands, sitting and sobbing while a wolf corpse was falling next to him. Sigeric was behind the young hobbit, lying on the ground and severely wounded.  
"Bilbo ?" Called Eileen softly. "What happened ?"  
The hobbit sobbed harder and started talking in a difficult speech. Her mother had sent him here for safety but a wolf had spotten him and chased him. And when Sigeric had opened the door, the wolf had jumped them and attacked the elder before the youngest had managed to grip a sword and fending off the predator from their grandpa. Then he had managed to kill the beast but the harm had been done.  
"Grandpa Sig'!" Called Eileen, slipping on the floor with her hooves. "Gramps ! It's going to be alright. I will heal you and..."  
A bloodied hand touched her mouth to stop her.  
"Don't." Whispered the old hobbit."I've lived a long life and I knew I would not see the end of this winter.  
-Grandpa." Tried Bilbo, tears rolling down his cheeks. "Mom and Dad, they are dead ! The wolves killed them !  
-And you killed this one to protect me." Replied Sigeric in a weak voice. "I'm proud of you. Both of you. You have grown so much...  
-Grandpa. You can't go now ! We still haven't found an elf to show you !  
-Eileen, look at me Young One. I want you to take care of Bilbo. You are his big sister." -he coughed but kept her hands away- "Let me finish, please. You are a family. Family care for each other. And you two have been the best grandchildren I could ever wish to have.  
-Grandpa..."  
Sigeric looked straight in Eileen eyes, he could see her teary green eyes but something else was here, teary as well. He could see gentle grey eyes and long black hair, pointy ears and a bronze-like circlet. This was an elegant male creature with fair skin and no beard. Too elegant to be a dwarf. Too tall for a hobbit.  
An elf...  
His granddaughter was bonded to an elf. He felt the sorrow coming from her and her mate and smiled with pride. The male elf smiled softly and silently sent him the message to not tell her about his race or identity, if the elderly hobbit eventually knew who he was.  
"Don't worry about your promise... Your and Bilbo's efforts to find an elf for me have been more than enough. I consider it fulfilled. I'm pretty sure they were here watching us and laughing while we were searching for them..." He coughed again and spat blood. "Bilbo, come here, Son. Don't let the Sackville take Bag End, alright ? This is your parents' home. Now it's yours. You're an adult, now. Take a good care of it. Eileen, your mate has a beautiful soul. He will take care of you, I'm sure. Better than me, at last.  
-You are the best parent I could ever ask for..." Sobbed Eileen. "I can't even thank you enough for all you have done for me.  
-Well... Smile for me one last time. You and Bilbo. I want to leave with you smiling, like the first time you walked on that lush grass and then stepped on that sharp pebble... "  
The two youngsters chuckled at the thought and let the memory add a smile to their tears.  
That night, the two mourned the lost of their family, as many in the Shire.


	4. Chapter 4

###### Chapter 3 :

The next days had been tough. Eileen and Bilbo had moved into Bag End after evacuating Sigeric's body into an empty smial, normally used as storage, reconverted in a improvised morgue. They had put Belladonna and Bungo togeher with Sigeric, not wanting to separate them, and helped their neighbors with putting the bodies away. The dead wolves were frozen solid and attached to the still freezing grounds. They had no choice but to wait until spring to take them off but this choice was dangerous. Rotting corpses left in open air would bring nothing good but sickness upon Hobbiton. Eileen proposed to put the dead wolves on fire to get rid of them. The dead hobbits would be buried much later, when the temperatures would stop freezing the dirt.  
Bilbo and Eileen were each other's rock during the end of the winter, supporting each other in their grief. The male presence was comforting the druidess as well and giving her the strenght to go on. She spent long times outside, hunting the rare deers, wild rabbits and boars to bring food for the starving hobbits.  
Bilbo preferred to stay inside the smial, stocking the fire and making sure there was always food in the pastry. Even if they could just eat bread and cheese and a very light soup with scrapes of meat, the most important was to have something in their stomach to keep going.

Slowly, the winter left its place to spring. It took days to bury the deads and to adapt to the fact than more than 30 hobbits had died during this winter in just Hobbiton. On a common agreement, they decided to call it the Fell Winter, and everyone had to remember this and to take lessons. Next time, they would be more careful, prepare more provisions and protect the smials better against the cold and the wolves.  
As the post office of Hobbiton was in need of staff since the death of their most efficient workers, Eileen decided to work for them, carrying letters and packages in her centaur form. The Hobbits crafted a saddle made of strong fabrics and light leather, with two large saddlebags and enough space to add more if needed. With a map and a compass, she could easily galop from one town to another and deliver the mail daily. Bilbo reminded her to carry her daggers and a bow as well, as the roads were never fully safe.  
Running around and making herself useful was helping and she was soon taking pride of her job. Her four-legged body was intimidating enough for thieves to think twice before trying an attack, and to keep nosy hobbits from stealing the letters and packages.  
Because yes : some hobbits were real jerks and stealing packages and letters was their kink. Even the male presence in her mind was disapproving their actions. On the other hand, he was definitly approving the snarky revenges from the druidess.  
Many snoops in the different towns had met the wrath of the "half-horse" postwoman and they were now running away everytime they heard the thunder of hooves galoping on the roads.  
The Sackville were sadly back in full force and still trying to steal Baggend from Bilbo. Those despicable hobbits were decided to take the smial as it was apparently their right as the richest family from Hobbiton. Bag End being a luxuous smial, more than their own, they felt they were entitled to take it and leave the young Bilbo and his adoptive sister on the streets.  
Bilbo was furious : his parents were dead, his chosen grandpa was dead, and those arseholes were like scavengers, readying themselves to jump on the first occasion to leave him homeless ! Eileen had been furious and only the young hobbit had managed to calm her down enough so she would not go straight to the Sackville and tear them a new one.  
The Sackville had spent some months with unnatural hair(s) colors and everyone in the town was aware of what had happened. The family didn't give up and called Bilbo with some nasty insults and how his father would roll in his grave if he saw how unrespectable he was by living with a female outsider, even if Eileen was living in Hobbiton for years and considered as a "honorary hobbit". This time, the druidess felt she had to step up the game and this time, Bilbo didn't try to stop her.  
The Sackville matriarch was now drenched by a bucket of dirty water everytime she spoke ill of someone, and she was doing that several times a day.  
But their words had badly hurt Bilbo who had decided to behave like any respectable hobbit in the Shire. No more exploring the hills, no more hunting in the forest, no more racing on a crazy fast centaur, no more helping his adoptive sister to train her magic.  
Eileen suffered from the loss and tried to convince her little brother to ignore the Sackville Matriarch but nothing worked. Saddened, she preferred to focus on her work and delivered the letters as usual between the post offices in the different towns.  
The Sackville were watching in glee and continued their work.

Having to deal everyday with a grumpy adoptive brother and unbearable snoops made her slowly more cynical and irascible with people. She started snapping at snoppering hobbits who always tried to steal things from her saddlebags and sent them some nastier spells as they still tried to take her stuff.  
The thieves near Woodhall were now avoiding her and not going out until they were sure she was gone, fearing her words as well as her magic. To the point the small town was now free of those burglars every time hooves clapping were heard.  
Michel Delving was a nice town to visit when she had to deliver mail to the post office. It had a large central place and the Mayor was welcoming, not as much as Stock where she was always invited to share a warm meal at the "Golden Perch" tavern. The cooks were nice and the food was good. The beer... less good. She prefered clear water of fruits juices. She wondered if she could invite Bilbo one day to have lunch or dinner here. They hadn't been outside together for a long time, and she missed their little excursions.  
Tuckborough was by far the funniest place to go : all of the innhabitants belonged to the Took family. Children loved to run alongside her or snatch a ride. Toddlers were sometimes holding on her legs like baby monkeys, making the Took laughing loudly as she tried to move very slowly because she always feared to stomp one fauntling if she dared to make a faster movement. The teens were mischevious little things, running everywhere and hiding to make pranks on everyone, when they weren't going somewhere in the woods exploring and fighting with woodsticks.  
Everything was alright, but she wanted her little brother back.

"No !"  
His voice was loud, firm and full of anger. Eileen was shocked : he had never been like this before.  
"Bilbo...  
-I said NO !! I don't want to accompany you to your next delivery, even if this your first time going to Brockenborings ! I can't believe I followed you when we were younger ! I am a respectable hobbit, like my father !  
-Your mother was respectable too !  
-My mother was a Took ! Took are wild and crazy ! I don't need to shame my father's family by going on a stupid adventure !  
-Is it the Sackville again ?" Asked Eileen, shivering in a mix of fear and anger. "What has Lobelia said this time ?  
-A lot of things actually ! And she is correct : I can't be a respectable hobbit if I keep living with my adoptive sister who is also part of the Tall Folk !"  
She winced like she had been slapped : her little bro was actually rejecting her !  
"I wish I never had a sister like you !! Now leave ! I don't want to see you again !!"  
She forced her tears to not fall and she nodded :  
"Alright." She replied with a surprisingly steady voice."I will take my stuff and leave. After all, a respectable hobbit don't live with strangers, as you said. We are a family, Bilbo.  
-We are not. We never were a family for starters. Pack your things and leave. Grand... Sigeric's smial had never been occupied since his death. It should be enough for you."  
Sigeric'smial was at the end of Hobbiton, and no one had wanted to live here since the Fell Winter. The front door was broken and in need of repairs, the garden left to wild herbs and plants to grow. The whole place was empty and dusty and the fireplace full of coal stains.  
She magically banished the dust and stains, checked the door : it needed to be changed. The windows needed to be cleaned and it looked like some spiders had decided to claim it as their home. Eileen shivered : she hated spiders.  
"Eileen !!"  
She turned around : this was Samlad, from the Whitfoot family. His family had less hairy feet compared to others hobbits and all of them worked as postmen.  
"We heard you and Mr. Baggins shouting so... we heard everything. You're not going to live on your own in this creepy hole. No no no... The post office has rooms for workers who can't go home. We will find a suitable room for you and you will live with us as you work for the post too. We postmen have to stick together."  
He guided her to the post office and they got her the biggest room for her and her things (clothes, weapons and books). She felt numb as the realization really sunked on her : Bilbo had wished he never had her as a sister ! Her legs and hands started shaking as the shock was now creeping. The male presence reacted and sent soothing feelings but it didn't work. She felt the walls closing in and her breathing was starting to get erratic.  
A blanket got thrown on her and five small bodies clinged on her, pining her in place.  
"Deep breaths, young lady. We don't need you to get sick on this Baggins lad. It was bound to happen, since he is always listening to the Sackville. Don't worry, Big Pony, you will get your brother back soon, if he is smart enough to stop listening to this old shrew. Let's calm down a little bit and we will eat some supper before going to bed. Everyone has a long day waiting."  
She panted and forced herself to breath slower, to slow down her heart. Why ? Why did he react like this ? Why was he rejecting Belladonna ? His mother has been the best mother Eileen had ever known. She needed to calm down and focus. Shielded from the outside world under the blanket, she had no choice but to listen to her coworkers reassuring her.  
"Hey, Miss." Called Siegfried, one the oldest working here. "You're going to Brockenborings for the first time ! Beware of the wolves and black bears on the road, they can be nasty. They might be tempted to take a bite out of your horse legs.  
-Don't scare her." Chastised Samlad playfully. "Brockenborings is pretty far and you have Bywater, Budgeford and Scary on the way. That means you will have to take the mail for these towns as well. You will need more saddlebags than your usual two. And if it goes well, one day you will be able to go to Needlehole and maybe further."  
Needlehole... She had never been to that place... She knew where it was on the map : it was the town before the frontier between the Shire and Ered Luin or the Blue Mountains, a realm shared between dwarves and elves. Only the bravest were tasked to deliver mail to this town and neighboring realm : it was usually the Took as she thought about it...  
And further... Would it mean Ered Luin ? But no one wanted to go that far...  
"Well, we figured that since you can have four legs and if you manage to go to Brockenborings AND Needlehole without getting scared of returning to those blasted places, we would be able to send you to Ered Luin. It's wilder than Bree-land, much better for you. The Tall Folk would flip out if they saw you with your horse legs."  
They were right on this point... The burglars near Woodhall were men and had screamed "Sorcery !!" more than once when meeting her.  
The male presence chuckled in her mind at the memories, relieved that the panic attack was gone now, replaced with anticipation for the new delivery mission.  
"Alright, let's eat supper !" Spoke Samlad.  
Every hobbits cheered. Eileen shook her head slowly : always count on hobbits for being overjoyed over food. Still, she was hungry too. She hadn't eaten a thing since lunch and it had been a long day.  
She waited until they all left her new room to leave her blanket and to get up : it was time to check on what was edible in the post kitchens.  
At the same time, sitting alone in Bag End, Bilbo was ressassing the arguing scene and sighed : what had he done ? He could be seen as a respectable hobbit now but... what it worth losing his sister ?


	5. Chapter 5

###### Chapter 4 :

Waking up and getting ready for the day had been hard for Eileen, even if she was used to her working rhythm. Last evening had been stressful and she hadn't slept as much as she should have. Samlad was already in the kitchen and breakfast was deposited on the table.  
"Good morning !" He greeted cheerfully. "Oh, rough night, I see. Well, eat before it gets cold and let's go to work."  
The amount of food on the table was insane : there was enough to feed a small army, or a bunch of hungry hobbits...  
While munching on some bread, she studied the map on the wall. Bywater was close, only half a day of walking on a great road, no beast, no burglar... It would be the easiest part. Then there was Budgeford. Entering the small town was tricky because of the river passing just in front.The stones could be slippery or the mud would stick to the hooves and being a real bother for the journey. But before Budgeford, she had to pass in front of Frogmorton. This place was infested with frogs and toads, and not the small ones. If they had been smaller, it would have been a small bother but no : those things were as big as cats and incredibly agressive ! Eileen was sure they were feeding on birds and small mammals, since they were too big to keep eating bugs. Gross...   
Well, it would take at least three days, maybe four, to reach the town and then... Straight toward North. The road was straight, no tricky crossing... It shouldn't that hard ! Maybe it would take two or three days to go from Budgeford to Scary, maybe more if the road was really bad... The weather had been pretty clement those last days, she hoped it would last until her return.   
"Your saddle with the mail is ready, Big Pony. Shift to your bigger form and run. Your first long delivery. We are not expecting you for the next two weeks at least. So, get your pack ready."  
She needed enough clothes, her raincoat just in case, her weapons just in case, toiletries because she would NOT spend two weeks without washing herself, brushes and hoof pick for her horse body parts (a stone stuck in the hoof was actually the worst thing ever, like stepping on a lego in her previous world), blankets if she needed to sleep int the wild, water flask, some rope and a primitive lighter if she needed to start a fire. Samlad added some cooking tools on the saddle because "you may get hungry on the road and no tavern around to serve you food !". He sneaked some pastries as well in the pack.  
At the end, the usually light saddle was fully loaded and heavy on her back. She stretched her horse legs and her coworkers bid her good luck before she started trotting away on a steady pace. Speed wasn't the trick when delivering mail, the best was to find a nice and steady rhythm to keep your stamina and you could go on for hours. And for a centaur, trotting was actually the best pace.  
The regular clapping of her hooves on the road resonnated in Hobbiton as she took her leave toward South.  
The trip to Bywater was quiet : she met a not fully awake Shirrif who was doing some early patrolling and some wandering cows. Well, the patriarch of the Brownlocks family was going throw a fit again... It didn't matter how many times he had been told by the Thain to fix his enclosures. A shame she was going to miss one of those legendary arguments between Gerontius Took and Berengar Brownlocks : it was amusing to watch and you could always learn some new swearing words and imaginative curses by the way.  
The inhabitant of Bywater greeted her, used to her odd "half-horse body" but appreciating the fact that mail was delivered to the local post office. Since they had mail to send to Budgeford, they added it to her saddle she managed to get some lunch at the tavern before leaving for her next destination.   
The road toward Budgeford was more lively : it was the afternoon and people were working around in the fields or in the pastures with the cattle. A few Shirrifs were patrolling as usual. She met one mailman, a young hobbit named Vigo who saluted her as he was jogging with his messenger bag and his backpack.   
He looked fine, which was good. After the Fell Winter, the Shire had struggled to heal its wounds and its inhabitants had proven an extraordinary resilience in Eileen's eyes : she wasn't sure if people from her previous world would be able to recover as fast as the hobbits... No, they wouldn't : too dependent on technology and not knowing enough about gardening, hunting and fishing. In short : not enough with survival skills.  
She shook herself from her thoughts and trotted happily on the road.

"Excuse me."  
Samlad looked from the letter he was actually going to put in the mailbox :  
"Ah. Mr Baggins. Good afternoon to you.  
-Good afternoon, Samlad. I wondered if you had seen Eileen recently. I want to talk to her.  
-Well, young lad, it will be difficult : she is on a delivery mission to Brockenborings. She won't be here for a least ten days, maybe more. And I suppose it wouldn't be wise for you to talk to her : she is hurt enough by your words from last time. She doesn't need any more hurtful words for now.  
-Wait... You heard... ?  
-I did. We all did. You're lucky our mission as mailmen is more important than our personal feelings. Most of us wanted, and still want, to give you an earful but we won't. I'm sure you have your own reasons to reject your adoptive big sister... But from now, be sure we will be watching if we see you trying to talk to her again."  
Bilbo swallowed his saliva and accepted the offered letter before walking back inside his smial.

Frogmorton...  
She hated walking near this place... Oh crap ! Big frog coming !! Everyone run !!  
She bolted on the road and her hooves slipped on a green substance. What the hell ?! Slime ? What kind of beast could make that much slime ?  
She paled when she saw the thing...  
Fuck this place !   
She raced toward Brudgeford. At least there was no cat-sized frogs and NO giant slugs with freakish horns !! Where the hell did they come from ?! The male presence seemed perplexed on the subject but not as much as her who was more directly confronted to those things and...   
HOLY SHIT THE SLUG WAS CHARGING !! WHAT THE HELL ?!!  
She didn't stop running until arriving to her destination, covered in dust and sweat, panting heavily, legs shaking and threatening to let go, but at least safe from any giant swamp beasts. Being early on schedule, she decided to take some time to rest before going north.   
The local post office workers actually laughed at her "giant slug" encounter. This was apparently quite common in their town to fend off those beasts. Eileen promised herself to never live in this place. She dreaded to meet another one of those things. At least she got a room in the local Inn for the night with dinner and possibility of having a bath, what she did eagerly. As much as she liked the outdoors and wasn't disturbed by getting dirty, she loved being clean and made her best to bath or wash herself everyday. The only exceptions being a too cold weather while having to sleep in the wild, or the total absence of water near her camping site.  
She happily took the road again the next morning, her horse legs were still sore from the crazy race but she ignored the pain : she would gently trot and the pain would fade on the way...  
The male presence disagreed but she ignored him as well.  
The hobbits from the town made their best to avoid her and she shrugged : hobbits didn't like new things, and a centaur delivering mail in Budgeford was a new thing, so... They didn't like it. Maybe it would pass if she had to do more deliveries here, maybe not... At least, they had been polite enough to offer her food and a warm place to sleep for the night.  
The road toward north was quiet and well maintained near of the the town, but as she trotted further, the road were slowly becoming a simple dirt path and the surroundings looked wilder than usual in the Shire. Well, there was a forest on the way. She could see it not so far away on the road... That explained the wilderness.  
Her hooves clapped in rythm as she trotted carefully on the road, not wanting to trip or slip on something. She spotted a few badgers in the tall grass but they were too far away to be a potential threat. She still had her bow if one of them would suddently decide to attack.   
She had seen one attack without reason before: the beast had been drooling and behaving erraticly before jumping at a young Took fauntling. The father had been quick to send the rabid creature flying away by hitting it with his shovel. This had been the first time Eileen had seen badgers fly... And the fact that one hobbit could do it was impressive. That day, she had concluded that hobbits were more stronger that they let see, or maybe it was a Took thing... After all, Took were no ordinary hobbits : more adventurous, long-lived and mostly taking leading role in the Shire. A shame Bilbo didn't inherit that much of his mother side...  
She tensed when she heard a deep growl : this was not coming from a badger.  
Taking a deep breath, she quickened her pace to a slow and regular canter. Better move fast but she needed to keep some breath if she didn't wanted to exhaust herself.   
The landscape was beautiful but undulating, making the travel slightly more difficult than usual. She was panting and sweating and to slow down to a walking pace to regain her breathing. Maybe the best was to just walk for now and keep the speed in case a beast would try to attack here.  
When night fell, she decided to set camp on the eastern side of a hill close to the road. Sleeping outdoors wasn't a foreign thing to her, having been taught by Belladonna years ago, and her being a druid making her more comfortable in nature.   
Sadly, being a druid didn't protect from predators. Her horse body still had scars from the Fell Winter, when the wolves had bitten and tried to rip flesh out her legs. The fur had regrown in a white color for the bigger scars, marking her bay body with white lines. Bears were on the list too : hobbits were too small for a bear to be interested, but a centaur was bigger, larger and would make a better meal than a hobbit. The strange growl she had heard earlier could be from a bear : it had been deep enough.  
She kept her four legged form for the night and placed wards around her campsite so she would be able to sleep without being bothered by animals. After this, she tried to find the best spot to lay down on the grass and settled down to sleep a few hours.  
She didn't react when a hungry black bear tried to attack but got rejected by the wards. Furious about not being able to get an easy meal, he roared and that woke her up in fright. Seeing the bear fighting with the magical barrier, she was actually glad about thinking to put wards up before calling it a night. Not sure about bears and their stubborness, she focused on putting more magic into the wards. The beast would tire up and leave, eventually.  
It didn't leave until dawn...  
And that's how a sleep-deprived Eileen went on her journey to Brokenborings... And the bear was still following. When he growled and charged, she bolted and sprinted on the road : fuck bears ! This time, she wasn't stopping for anything ! Her magic powered her legs as she started making longer and longer strides. The hooves were thundering on the road. The bear roared behind and she accelerated. The forest came closer, and soon, she entered it, staying on the road and not slowing down, too focused on getting away. Running on instinct, she heard the growls of other bears inside the forest.   
How many of them were living there ?! Where were the hunters when you needed them ?!  
The forest finally let place to hills and green grass. She could see windmills far away on the road. Another growl and running noises from the forest took away her want to slow down and she kept the insanely fast pace, panting hard and legs burning from the effort. She needed to go on ! Faster ! She needed to be faster !

When the sun finally went down, a shirrif guarding the entrance of Scary saw a strange four legged creature. The upper part was a female human torso and the lower part was of a horse. Strange creature indeed... The creature was wobbling on the road, legs shaking, the horse body was covered in dust and foam caused by the sweat. The human part wasn't better, the green tunic was covered in dust and sticking to the thin body as it was sweaty. The hair was sticking to the skin and he saw the pale face breathing like an injured mare. He spotted the saddle and the bags attached to it.  
The shirrif frowned at first then he remembered the mailmen talking about a new recruit from Hobbiton who could shift into an half-horse and who had to do her first dangerous long delivery to confirm her statut as a seasoned mailwoman. It was a simple rite of passage for all mailmen in the Shire. First delivering the mail from Hobbiton to Brockenborings, then from Brockenborings to Needlehole and back to Hobbiton. If the person could do this, he or she would be seen as an experienced mail deliverer and would be able to do more interesting missions as going to Ered Luin or Bree-land, or delivering more sensible mail and packages.   
Now the thing was to not tell the person it was a test...  
"Good evening Lass." He greeted, as polite as possible. "Do you need any help ?"  
The female creature stopped walking and actually put her hands on her trembling knees to try to catch her breath.  
"Good evening." She panted. "I have some mail... And I would like some water if this is not an inconvenience... Please."  
The shirrif smiled : at least this one was polite.  
"Well, follow me, Lass. You look like you had been chased by bears.  
-In fact... I HAVE been chased by bears... Lot of them in the forest...  
-I see. When, I will have to adress this issue to the hunters. Their job is too keep the bears population to an acceptable level. They must have been lazy with their job lately. So, mail for us ? Do you want to stop here to rest for the night and do you want to go to Brockenborings ? It's only a hour away but I fear you will fall down on the road.  
-It's alright, I can do it..."  
The male presence in her head disagreed strongly on this point.  
The local post office took the mail and gave her the one for her last destination. She drank a entire pitcher of water and walked slowly out the smaller town. She hadn't enough energy left to trot and just walked. She was limping as her muscles were completely sore. She was going to need a good rest after this.  
Luckily, nothing hostile was on the road for the hour-long walk.  
Brockenborings was... big. Not in the sense of heavily populated, but in the occupied space. The gardens surrounding the smials were a lot bigger than the ones in Hobbiton. Many small stonewalls were closing the gardens. This was different from the wooden fences she was used to see. A giant statue was towering the town, representing a crouching bull. Impressive ! She vaguely remembered Belladona talking one of her ancestors once... A hobbit taller than usual, able to ride a horse and not a pony, and who was said to have decapitated a goblin king with only one swift of his mass. This hobbit had been known under the name Bullroarer. Was it connected somehow ? She would have to ask the locals, but not tonight. Maybe tomorrow.  
Finding the post office was not an easy task : where the hell were the signs when you needed them ?! And no shirrif ? Seriously ?  
"Hey you ! Who are you and what are you doing here ?"  
Finally someone... She forced herself to swallow her frustration as she was exhausted and really sore, and replied in a polite tone :  
"Good evening. I'm from Hobbiton and have been tasked to deliver the mail. Could you please tell me where is the post office ?"  
The hobbit looked at her caustiously but finally nodded :  
"I will bring you personally to the post, and if you try anything illegal, it's will be the jails for you. Now follow me."  
Wow. Let's talk about being welcoming here...  
The post was closed for the night...  
How come on ! No wonder why not many people wanted to deliver mail here.  
Eileen sighed, pinched her nose bridge, felt the male presence's desapprobation about her walking in her exhausted state, ignored him even if he was certainly right, then turned toward the shirrif :  
"Do you have any barn or stables I could use to spend the night ?"  
Between sleeping outside (and risking meeting bears) and sleeping in a barn or stables, she was definitly choosing the last option. At least, the hay and the straw were comfier than grass.  
The shirrif guided her to a small barn used as a hay storage for cattle. She paced around, checked if there was no farm animal near who would bother her, and finally detached the saddle. This hay was fresh, it smelled good and was still green. Eileen used her front hooves to gather more hay and nested herself. This wasn't a room but at least she could sleep with a roof over her head. And sleeping in a barn wasn't that bad... It could have been a pig farm or a chicken farm...  
The male presence chuckled as she was making herself more comfortable before calling it a night. Her last thought before falling asleep was how hell she was going to manage with the muscle aches the next day.  
She hoped she would at least be able to get up and walk tomorrow.


	6. Chapter 6

###### Chapitre 5 :

The rooster's song woke her up and she winced.  
She was sore !  
Her legs, her horse back, her human back... everything was stiff and painful.  
She groaned and let herself sink down further into the hay. Would the post officer be mad at her if she stayed longer in the hay ? Her stomach growled and she sighed : well... she had to get up and get some nourrishment. She hadn't eaten anything since yesterday morning and if she was feeling quite famished. She was lucky her magic was strong enough to keep her body moving even without enough food or water.  
The male presence sent his disagreement and she sensed something else trying to pass through the bond. It didn't work. The bond wasn't strong enough to permit a more complete way of communication, like sending images, memories or talking to each other. Maybe one day...  
Her stomach growled again and she growled as well : she had to move and get up. She carefully stood up, stretched her legs and back as best as possible as she was so sore and put the saddle on her back. Alright : now the post office.  
She ignored the male presence seeming smug by her swearing as she was walking funny to ease the pain on her legs. The few hobbits already working outside their smials shot her some strange looks but she ignored them : hobbits never liked new things, and she was something new in the town. Her tail swished slowly and she snorted as she found the post office : it was still closed. Was it going to open during the day or... ?  
She positioned herself back to door and kicked it with one hoof, slamming it open. Now she could enter.   
"What the... ?!" Sputtered an old man holding the office. "What are those manners ?! The door was closed !!  
-Good morning, and, yes, the door was closed but now it's open and I have mail from Hobbiton, Bywater and Budgeford to deliver. Where can I deposit everything so I can rest a bit a eat a little something ?"  
The old man stared at Eileen, her four horse legs covered in dust, the horse tail tangled with hay, the fripped tunic and the unkept hair with hay stuck in it, and laughed :  
"You must be Eileen. Samlad sent a letter about you : he told me about a promising young recruit three years ago, I thought you were a hobbit who prefered to travel on a pony, not a woman with...  
-A half-horse body ?  
-Em... You can say that... So, first time in Brockenborings, right ? And no missing limb... That's good. More than one mailman have lost an arm or a leg while crossing the forest. The black bears can be quite agressive. You should take a day or two to rest a bit before going back on the road... Let"s see this letter here... Really ?! Four days to come here ? That's fast. It takes nearly a week for a hobbit to go from Hobbiton to Brockenborings. Well, you have earned three days of rest.  
-What ?  
-Yes. You can rest for the next three days and then I will give the second part of your mission. As a mail deliverer, you should always be ready for surprise deliveries. If you're bored, go spend some time with the hunters. Now, go eat something in the kitchen and go take a bath in one of the rooms uptairs."  
She welcomed the last sentence with open arms. Food and bath ! Finally !  
If Eileen surprised herself by the amount of food she devoured that morning, the old hobbit wasn't even fazed :  
"You're far from having the appetite of a hobbit, lass. Believe me. I'm one.  
-I know that. Samlad eat twice as much as I usually do. And the others eat as much, even more. I will never understand where do you put that much food.  
-Well, you're a honorary hobbit, not a full one like us. It's for us to know, and you to wonder. Now, just by looking at your state... I guess you got chased by bears, am I right ?  
-Yes, several bears were in the forest.  
-I see... Well, running away is not always an option when you meet bears. I suggest you to spend some time with the hunters for the next days : they will teach you how to use this bow of yours.  
-I know how to hunt with a bow.  
-Do you hunt bears ?  
-No.  
-Well, you will learn then. Hunting deers and rabbits is easy. But bears, you need to learn to not fear them. If you show weakness, they will get you. It's the same with every animals and people. Never show fear, lass : just get stronger."  
She nodded and drank some apple juice silently : the officer was right, she couldn't just run away from big predators. What would she do if she was injured and not able to galop to safety ? No, she needed to learn to hunt and fight bears as well as she had to do with boars and thieves...  
Shifting to her fully human appearance had been a hardship but at least she could fit in the bathtub and relax into the hot water. She would never understand people who refused to take a bath, like the thieves living near Woodhall. She sighed and closed her eyes : her body was sore but the hot water was helping to sooth the aches away. The added herbs in the water were a bonus. That was good...  
The male presence chuckled in her mind and she frowned : couldn't she take a bath in peace ? She tried to push him away mentally but he seemed even more amused by her actions than annoyed.  
She let her her back rest against the tub and sighed : mates and their lack of respect of privacy... And he was laughing this time... She let a small smile sneak on her face : at least he was having fun.  
She thought back at the fact she had a new mission in three days. This was weird... Why let her rest three days before sending her on a new path ? Most of the time, a mailman had the night, or an entire day to rest before travelling again, not three days. Weird... But well, she should stay positive : three days to heal from her muscles soreness and to learn how to deal with bears because she didn't wanted to run away everytime she met one on the road : this could be too dangerous.  
After bathing herself and putting some clean clothes, she walked downstairs and met the incredulous stare on the old officer :  
"I've been told about the shifting but I have to admit it's more impressive to see the difference between your two forms. No shoes ?  
-Nope, been living with hobbits for more than twenty years. I adopted some of your ways."  
The officer nodded and smiled : a honorary hobbit indeed.  
"If you want to meet the hunters," He told her in a gruff voice. "You should walk to Scary. They are the closest to the forest and the most efficient hunters. Take your bow and go learn something useful for once."  
She rose an eyebrow but smirked : this man was an old grump but he cared. So, she fetched her bow and arrows and walked toward the small town, wondering what would happen next.  
The shirrif from Scary welcomed her with an amused hand waves, seeing how she walked carefully due to the aches.  
"Good morning, lass. Not delivering mail today ?  
-Good morning. I've been given 3 days off by the old post officer. I don't know his name, though.  
-Oh, that old Leufroy gave you some days off, huh ? I bet he sent you here to learn how to deal with the bears.  
-How...  
-He does that with every newbie coming here. Follow me, the hunters here know what to do : you will learn how to use this bow like a real hunter in no time."  
She followed silently, curious about what was waiting here. He guided her throught a small field where they could see a large smial with stables and a small barn. Furs were piled on the ground near the door. Targets were settled on the side, with arrows already stuck in them.  
"This is the hunters'house. This were we get the bear meat for Scary, Brockenborings, Budgeford and even Stock.  
-Stock ? But that's quite far away for delivering meat...  
-Not when you have a carriage pulled by four ponies and the meat is salted before being transported. Have you ever tried bear meat ?  
-Never.  
-You should. It's quite strong, but very popular in Stock. We even sell dried bear meat for travellers. Quite popular too."  
Eileen didn't know what to thing about eating bears but then... Why not ? It had to be good if people here liked it that much.  
The male presence was perplexed but not grossed out. She promised herself to try some if she had the chance.  
The shirrif knocked at the door, gestued her to step away and opened it only to duck down as a knife flew over his head.  
"Good morning, you bunch of savages." He saluted in a calm voice as Eileen watched the knife land a few meters away behind them. "I have a newbie messenger for you. Teach her how to deal with the bears and we should be good. And Oddo : aim higher next time."  
Rancuous laughters answered him and Eileen wondered herself if she had still time to back away unnoticed. The hunters saw her : fuck, she couldn't run now...  
"Alright Newbie !" Called one of them. "Come in and let's see what you're made of."  
She sighed and walked in, clutching one of her daggers just in case. Inside the smial were sitting 7 male hobbits, all of them wearing green and brown clothes, and most of them scarred seemingly from their job.  
"You're human." Stated one the hunters, a middle-aged red head with claw marks on his face.  
'No shit, Sherlock.'She thought as she rose an unimpressed eyebrow.  
"We didn't know the mailmen were employing members of the Tall Folk." Spoke a second one with black curly hair and a pale skin. "That's a first.  
-I'm a honorary hobbit from Hobbiton and working with the post officers for three years." Replied Eileen in a serious voice. "The only members of the Tall Folk I've met are the thieves I've been beating everytime I go to Woodhall. Please don't compare me to them."  
The group chuckled :  
"You hear that ?" Smirked a blond one. "She fights the thieves from Woodhall. Well Lass, let me tell you : those thieves are a joke compared to wild bears. The thieves run away after some times, but a bear won't. No, a bear will try to kill you unless you kill him first. And sometimes you come back with this !"  
She made a face as he showed her a scar running on the left side of his face. His eye was milky white and he was missing a finger at his hand. Wow ! She looked at all of them : they all were wearing scars.  
"So, Lass. What's your name ?  
-Eileen.  
-No, I mean : your mail delivering name. You certainly have one, don't you ? Hunters and mailmen all have one.  
-Really ? I didn't know this.  
-Well, all seasoned have one. Let's start on your training and we will find something for you. What's your weapon of choice ?  
-Bow and daggers.  
-Forget the daggers. If you have to stab something or someone, use an arrow directly. This will be faster than taking away your bow and unsheat the dagger. Or you can use your bow to hit directly in the face. It works too. Come on, we will show you."  
As the day passed, she learned that the blond with the blank eyes was Chief, the leader of this group. The red head with the claw marks was Daggers and he was pretty good at throwing knives. The pale with black hair was Shade as he was avoiding the sun like plague. A chestnut haired one was called Genius, as apparently he had tried to show off on his first day and had masterfully failed. The bald one was Egg. And the newest one was Crash, something to do with a puddle of mud, a pony and a tree trunk.  
At least the nicknames were easy to remember and to pronounce. Practical in the forest when they had to call for one of their teammates. The mail deliverer had longer nicknames, like Quick Steps, Shorty (for a small hobbit even in hobbit's standards), Twinkle Toes, Painkiller (it seemed there was some interesting history behind this one), Sparrow, Long Shot, Double Trouble, Mad Dog or Goose (why Goose ? Eileen would have to find out as the presence was chuckling since "Twinkle Toes"). She felt dread as she wondered what would be her own nickname.  
She got some training at shooting her bow while running and they showed her how to use the arrows to stab a foe by using an already pierced boar pelt for practice. She learned how to use her bow to knock out people and they seemed satisfied enough with the fact that she wasn't afraid to fight when needed. This way of fighting was actually faster than using the daggers when something or someone was actually charging at you.  
This was actually really usefull ! The druidess was happy to learn a new way to protect herself. She wondered how practical it would be in her centaur-self. Without thinking, she shifted and started trying to shoot at the targets while trotting. She stopped when she heard the surprised shouts.  
Oh crap... She totally shifted without thinking about the hunters...   
The hobbits stared, eyed the long gangly legs and hooves, the horse tail trailing on the ground, and the pointy mobile ears. The silence stretched, uneasy when Genius chuckled :  
"A half-horse ! I knew the mail deliverers weren't shitting us with that ! Look at the size ! We can't loose you in a corn field, that's for sure !  
-Why would I want to be lost in a corn field ?" Asked Eileen perplexed.  
-Ask Samlad." Aswered Chief. "He knows the story better than us as the only thing we saw was a hobbit's naked butt running from a corn field with three furious geese trying to get a chunk from him."  
The male presence was chuckling again, and Eileen felt she had to get the whole story from her coworker when she would be back at Hobbiton.  
Chief clapped in his hands and grinned :  
"Alright, let's see what we can do with you."  
They made her shoot her bow while trotting and galoping. It wasn't easy to aim while moving fast but they told her it would get better with practice. The best method was to trot or galop toward the target and shoot for the beginners. Sometimes, you could cheat and stop just long enough to shoot at your target and then resume galoping. The hunters demonstrated while using their ponies : little sturdy things as savage as their riders.   
Eileen had honestly never met ponies who were that sassy and bity. One of them had actually nipped her left back leg for no reason, making her bolt in surprise. The hobbits just laughed at the scene.  
"Ponies..."  
Those ponies were hell'spawns but they were good at doing their job, as no one ejected their rider during the day.   
As the sun went slowly down, the hunters finally released her and told her to come back the next day. She was exhausted but managed to maintain a steady trot toward Brockenborings where Leufroy was waiting in the post office. The door was still wearing the hoof print from the morning and by the look from the old-looking hobbit, it was going to stay that way.  
"No galoping in town !" He chastised, making her jump in surprise. "The pavment can be slippery and people may get hurt !"  
She was trotting, not galoping... He gestued her to come in and to eat dinner. Again, there was enough food to feed at least three or four famished hobbits.  
"Is there any other mail deliverers here ?" Asked Eileen. "I haven't seen seen any since this morning."  
Leufroy shrugged :  
"One passed by at noon. Another walked in the afternoon, straight from Michel Delwing. He is bathing right now. He will come to eat later. I suggest you to not meet him as he is rather... xenophobic, even for a hobbit.  
-Oh...   
-Yes, I heard him talking about members of the Tall Folk and it wasn't flattering. I can understand if he hates dwarves as we often have troubles with them, but the Tall Folk can be pretty decent.  
-And elves ?  
-The Fair Folk ? Always hidden. Sometimes you catch a glimse in the forest but that's all. But yes : he hates all of them. Don't even think of meeting him, especially with those four legs of yours.  
-I'll keep that in mind."  
The male presence was displeased in her mind, and she felt... Mischief ? That was new. Was the bond deepening somehow or did she simply get better as sensing emotions from her mate ? The only way the deepen the bond would be to actually spend time with her mate and to join their bodies and minds. So she concluded she was simply getting better as sensing his feelings.  
She walked toward her assigned room later and made her hooves clap loudly on the floor as she passed near the other deliverer's room. Xenophobic hobbit, right ? She couldn't wait to meet this one. Was he worse than Lobelia ?  
She would have to find out tomorrow.


	7. Chapter 7

###### Chapter 6 :

The next morning was quiet. Leufroy made sure she was awake and ready before the new mailman would even stir, not wanting to deal with a scandal so early in the day.  
Eileen yawned loudly as she was tying her hair in a high ponytail and fetched her bow and arrows. She took a dagger just in case and walked down the stairs without making to much nose, her human feet being more silent as her hooves.  
"Are you staying with the hunters again ?" Asked the old man as they were eating breakfast. "They have some hunting to do. It would be good to go with them and learn on the job."  
Eileen chuckled :  
"I'm aware you want me to stay away because of the xenophobic one upstairs, but don't worry : I will stay with the hunters today.  
-Good, you will need to do the same tomorrow. Young Paladin is a green deliverer like you, doing his first big mission. He is resting today but tomorrow, he will have to train.  
-Every green deliverer is trained here ?  
-Yes, it's tradition. The black bears here are dangerous and strong : if you learn to fight the bears, dwarves will be a joke in comparison.  
-Oh. Alright. But staying with the hunters the same day as... Paladin might be a bad idea. Is there someone else who I can train with ?  
-The shirrif from Scary, Paladin, the older one. He can teach you his ways. Shirrifs and deliverers have quite the same duties. You'll learn that soon enough."  
She tilted her head : how the shirrifs and mail deliverers had same duties ? The shirrifs were here to watch the roads and the towns'safety. They had to deal with everyday problems between the inhabitants. Deliverers were on the road, carrying mail around and oh... They had to watch for the roads'safety as well, like fighting beasts and thieves. Was it the only common point ?  
She shifted to her centaur-self when she left the office and trotted toward Scary. The dawn was only starting to set and everything was still quiet around. A rooster sang and another responded. No quiet anymore...  
She greeted the shirrif on the way, snickering as he was nearly sleeping on his walking stick. Not everyone was an early bird here.  
Finding the hunters'house was simple enough : they were already making a ruckus what could be easily heard from outside. She just had to follow the voices.  
"Here is the horse lady !"Yelled Genius. "We were wondering if you were going to have cold feet and stay hidden in your post office like the coward Leufroy is !"  
Oh gods... If they were already like that in the morning, how were they going to be during the afternoon ?  
"Come with us. Time to find some bears ! Morning is when they leave their caves to hunt. They will be hungry, and angry. Just the way we want !"  
That Chief had certainly a death wish. Daggers wanted to clap her horse back but she was a bit tall for them to actually manage this feat. In fact, most hobbit could easily walk under her horse torso if they were ducking down enough. So he clapped her ribs and took the lead as everyone was already armed and ready to go to the fields and forest. Shade was already wearing a hooded cloak hiding from the morning sun. And Crash ? Well, he was happily walking and started to sing.

_Oh fishmonger, oh fishmonger  
Come quell your daughter's hunger  
To pull on my horn  
As it rises in the morn  
For 'its naught but bad luck  
To fuck with a puck  
Lest your grandkid be born  
A hairy young faun  
Bleating and braying all day, hey ho !_

"What the hell is that song ?" Inquired Eileen as the male presence in her mind was chuckling.  
The hobbits looked at her with shocked looks :  
"You don't know any of those songs ? Samlad didn't taught you ?  
-He didn't.  
-What are they teaching the youngs these days ?! Well lass, we have to correct that. Those songs are part of the life of hunters, deliverers and even shirrifs ! We need those songs to put some joy on the roads. So listen and learn."

_Oh fishmonger, oh fishmonger  
Come quell your daughter's hunger  
To pull on my horn  
As it rises in the morn  
For 'its naught but bad luck  
To fuck with a puck  
Lest your grandkid be born  
A hairy young faun  
Bleating and braying all day, hey ho !_

She laughed in disbelief as they were clapping their hands in rythm and went on the song :

_The fishmonger's daughter, ba ba  
For 'its naught but bad luck  
To fuck with a puck  
Lest your grandkid be born  
A hairy young faun  
Bleating and braying all day, hey ho !  
The fishmonger's daughter, ba ba_

It was entertaining and she decided to play along, encouraged by the hunters and the presence being really amused by this. She was having fun as well, clapping her hooves in rythm as they were clapping hands.

_Oh fishmonger, oh fishmonger  
Come quell your daughter's hunger  
To pull on my horn  
As it rises in the morn  
For 'its naught but bad luck  
To fuck with a puck  
Lest your grandkid be born  
A hairy young faun  
Bleating and braying all day, hey ho !_

_The fishmonger's daughter, ba ba  
To pull on my horn  
As it rises in the morn  
For 'its naught but bad luck  
To fuck with a puck  
Lest your grandkid be born  
A hairy young faun  
Bleating and braying all day, hey ho !_

_The fishmonger's daughter, ba ba  
The fishmonger's daughter, ba ba  
The fishmonger's daughter, ba ba  
The fishmonger's daughter, ba ba ba_

_The fishmonger's daughter, ba ba  
The fishmonger's daughter, ba ba  
The fishmonger's daughter, ba ba  
The fishmonger's daughter, ba ba ba_

They were all laughing when the song was done.  
"Now you understand ?" Asked Chief. "Our jobs are not easy. We have the weather, we have the wild animals, we have thieves... Happy silly songs are good for the moral. Never forget this and learn them to put some joy on your travels."  
She nodded, still grinning from the silly song.  
"Do you know The Cat and the Moon ?  
-I don't.  
-Guys ! She doesn't know The Cat and the Moon !  
-How shocking !" Reacted Daggers comically. "Let's remedy that immediatly !"  
Eileen wondered briefly how they managed to hunt while making that much ruckus... Maybe the bears were attacking because they wanted them to shut up ? She was maybe holding a good theory there...  
The presence chuckled again.

Two hours later, everyone was more serious as they entered the forest, all focused on listening the sounds and looking around carefully. Eileen made her best to walk as silently as she could, her hooves not being the most discreet either. After a few minutes of trying, Chief just ordered the hunters to disperse and told the druid to simply walk normaly. She was surprised but complied, not knowing what they were preparing.  
She got her answer as she heard something big moving around and tensed. A bear was near ! She stopped walking and looked behind : nothing. She sighed and went on her walk. She focused on her hearing : something big was near, she could hear it growling. A part of her wanted to run to safety but the other refused : she had to get stronger ! Running wasn't always a solution ! Her tail swang slowly and she stomped a hoof twice, making look like she was busy doing something else. Immediatly, shuffling sounds were coming from the bushes and she turned around just in time to see the biggest black bear she had never seen in her life.  
RRROOOOOAAAAAARRR !!!!  
"HOLY FUCKING SHIT !!!"  
She raised her arms toward the beast and unleashed her magic on instinct.  
A loud crack resonnated in the forest, like the growl of thunder, accompagned by a bluish flash, and the bear fell on the ground, as if it had been hit by lightning. Eileen was shaking in fear : what had she done ?  
The hunters hopped from various bushes around her and cheered :  
"And she got the first kill of the day !" Stated Daggers. "Not bad the idea of using magic to defend yourself, Thunder.  
-Thunder Hooves." Tried Shade. "She clapped her hoof before using magic.  
-Thunderbolt sounds better." Replied Genius. "I hope the bear is still edible. We will have to check this out.  
-Thunderbolt it is." Decided Chief. "Not bad for a first kill. A young black bear, not burned at the first look. Let's see if we can find another before walking back to our House."  
Eileen tensed : that was a young black bear ?! Did it mean that mature bears were bigger than this ? Were those hunters suicidal ?! And...  
"Wait a minute : did you just use me as bait ?"  
The looks she got in answer were clear : they did, and they had no regret.  
"Do you do this to every mail deliverer entrusted in your care ?  
-We do." Grinned Chief. "Nothing better than having a close call with a black bear to understand what bravery is. After this, they fear nothing on the roads."  
Yeah, they were crazy... And "Thunderbolt" ?  
"Do you give the nicknames during the hunts as well ?"  
They all smirked :  
"Of course we do, lass. We always find one's nickname during the hunting day with us. It's the best way to do it. And the funniest."  
They laughed and went on between the trees. Eileen shook her head : crazy hobbits.  
The male presence agreed.

It didn't stop them to use her as a bait a second time two hours later. She had lost them between some thick bushes and trees and couldn't find anyone. She stomped a hoof in irritation and walked slowly : they shouldn't be that far away... She wandered until she found the road crossing the forest and stepped on the path, clapping one hoof twice on the ground. Where was this bunch of mad hobbits ? She was looking around but they were nowhere to be found.  
The male presence sent an alarm feeling through the bond and she looked behind her : holy shit !  
This was a huge black bear. She turned around to face the beast : it was large enough to bit her head off and swallow it whole in one go.  
"Don't stop watching him." Resonnated Chief's voice from behind her. "Look at him in the eyes. He is focused on you."  
She shuddered. The beast was growling, showing sharp yellow fangs and drowling like a rabid dog. And the breath stinked !  
"Continue to look at him. Don't leave his eyes. Now, slowly, very slowly, arm your bow and step back as silently as possible."  
She complied, careful to keep the staring contest going on. She could feel the male presence tensing on the bond, as if he wanted to do something through her but couldn't.  
A dagger got thrown from a nearby bush and planted itself in the bear's thick coat. The beast roared and reared on his back paws.  
"Now shoot !" Ordered Chief.  
She released the arrow and hit the bear in the throat. Not enough to kill. Shade stepped out of his hidding place and shot the beast in the left eye, killing it on the spot. The animal fell on the grounds and stopped moving.  
Eileen was shaking in fear. This bear had been huge ! Someone slapped her hindquarters and she looked around, only to find Crash with the biggest smile :  
"That was a mature black bear. With this one and the young from earlier, our day is done. Genius is gone fetching the ponies and the carriage. We can still look around and try to get a third."  
The hobbits did and by the time the carriage was here, they had managed to find and shoot another young bear. Eileen had preferred staying on the path near the huge dead one. Being used as bait for a third time wasn't tempting... and she was still stressed out from her last encounter with the big black hairy beast.  
Genius laughed when he saw her :  
"First time meeting a mature bear, huh ? Does that with everyone, don't worry. At least you didn't crap yourself like the last one we had to teach. Think positive : if you survive an encounter with a mature black bear, you can survive everything. In the Shire, at least."  
Positive, huh ? Well, she survived this encounter, and she didn't want to make another one ever.  
She helped lifting the kills on the carriage and trotted with the ponies to go back to the Hunters'house. Then, the hunters skinned and gutted the dead bears and started cutting the meat. Eileen took her leave as they didn't need her help and found Paladin on the way back to Brockenborings.

The Shirrif gestued her to follow and proceded to show her the stone quarry where many hobbits were working. This was impressive. They collected stones for building and minerals for the forges. There were some dog-sized spiders walking by but the workers could easily fend them off. She wondered why she was brought here and he talked :  
"Now that you had got your lesson with the bears, time to do something else. Post workers don't only do the delivering jobs. You also had to insure the safety of the people. See those spiders ? Kill as much as you can, and don't get bitten. Their venom is quite nasty. Have fun, Thunderbolt."  
Wait what ?!  
"How do you... ?"  
The hobbit chuckled :  
"Genius told me when he went to fetch the ponies. Remember to use this name with everyone from now. Only your fellows coworkers your post office, family and close friends can know your real name. Roads are dangerous and if vengeful thugs can't find your name, it's better that way. Even us, Shirrifs, have to go by another name.  
-Oh. What's yours, then ?  
-You may call me Hairy Badger. -she rose her eyebrows.- You don't want to know."  
She managed to stiffle her laughter (her bondmate didn't) and spoke in a restrained voice.  
"Can I just use Badger, then ?  
-Alright, Thunder. Now go teach those spiders a lesson."  
She nodded and turned around : so, big spiders, then ? It couldn't be worse than the bears... She paused : did she just think that ?!  
...  
She just did.  
Oh crap. The hunters were right...  
The spiders were fast on their feet and could run on the stone walls. Eileen actually spent the whole afternoon running around after them, shooting arrows, kicking the most agressive ones with her hooves, and used her magic more than once to fry some, making the same thunder sounds each time.  
Strange. Not only she was using her magic without her wand, but her magic was really close to the air element when she was using it in an offensive way. Well, some other druids she had met in her previous world were handling fire as weapons, and they could be some real pyromaniacs. Air wasn't that bad, she just had to adjust with the electricity attached to it. Maybe she could use the spiders as target practice ?  
It took her a while and a lot of fails but when she finally managed to cut a spider in two by using a magical attack called "wind blade" in her learning books from her previous world, she actually jumped around in joy. Her magic was under control ! She didn't know why or how but it was !

Needless to say, she was exhausted when she went back to the post office in Brockenborrings. Leufroy jumped in surprise when he saw her and she heard a gasping sound behind the old hobbit :  
"What is THAT thing ?!"  
Thing ? Seriously ? The old hobbit shifted and Eileen could see a young blond hobbit with bright blue eyes. This one seemed to just have reached adulthood and from his way of speaking and his manners, he certainly was from some important family clan from Michel Delvings or else.  
"Something wrong with you, Blondie ?" She taunted, too tired to be a diplomat right now. "What, never seen a centaur before ?"  
Leufroy actually facepalmed as the young hobbit went redder and redder in a spluttered rage.  
"Eileen, this is Paladin Bracegirdles, from Michel Delvings. Paladin, this is...  
-Thunderbolt." She cut in a deadpanned voice.  
-You finally got your road name. Well met, Thunderbolt from Hobbiton. Paladin is here to receive his name as well.  
-Oh. Well, I wish him good luck."  
She smirked as young Paladin watched her horse legs clapping on the wooden floors with fright in his eyes as she walked toward the kitchens, then she paused and asked :  
"Leufroy ? What is your road name ?"  
The old hobbit smirked :  
"Swift Hawk. I was a falconer in my young. A good one. My birds always accompagnied me on the road. They were a sight to see, you know. I was famous in Ered Luin for them attacking any hidden elves or dwarves close to me. Come, I will tell you more over dinner."  
At the end of the evening, Eileen wasn't sure what had been the best moment : Paladin nearly chocking himself in his xenophobic hate or all the tales coming from the old postman. Even the male presence had been paying attention to his adventures. Eileen was a bit disappointed she wasn't able to do the same with her bondmate but she was sure she would be able to at least communicate with him, one day, and to have at least as much adventures as the old Swift Hawk from Brockenborings.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The fishmonger's daughter from the Witcher. I couldn't resist putting that song to a bunch of unruly hobbits hunters.


	8. Chapter 8

###### Chapitre 7 :

Eileen was stretching her horse legs : she was ready to go back on the road but Leufroy wanted to be sure she would take the right path before leaving. They were reviewing the maps as he explained the next steps to take to end her trial and come back to Hobbiton as a full-fledged mail deliverer.  
"So, you must walk west to Overhill." Explained the old hobbit. "Be careful in the woods : it's told that goblins are sometimes prowling around and lurking between shadows of trees. You can meet brown bears too, but they are smaller and less agressive than the black ones. Then you have The Hill, but you know this part of the Shire well. The tricky part will be to cross the Rushock Bog. Stay on the path as much as possible : what crawls in the water and tall grass is not very nice and you can find some dwarves hiding in the north part of the Bog.  
-Really ? They hide in the Rushock Bog ?  
-Yes, they live of stealing and attacking travelers and honest hobbits. Don't hesitate to teach them a lesson if they dare to try something on you. They have their base on a hill and the shirrifs can't do much against them. The best we can do is to protect ourselves."  
She nodded : dwarves were no joke in the Shire. They were strong, heavy and their weapons could do much damage to an unsuspecting hobbit. They were ruthless and didn't not hesitate to fight dirty if needed.  
Leufroy gave her a heavy stack of letters to bring on the way : most of them were to be delivered to Hobbiton so they would later be transported to Michel Delving and Tuckborough. He wished her a safe travel and she wished him to keep the office safe. He snickered and told her that since he was posted here, no thief had even tried to approach his place : even old, his reputation was still intact. 

She took her leave on a fast walking pace, hooves clapping in rythm, and humming as the weather was beautiful. The bags were heavy on her saddle and her tail trailing on the path.  
The road to Overhill had been rather uneventful : no goblin and no brown bear, just beautiful landscapes and a sturdy wooden bridge to cross the river. The forest was tall and throwing dark shade, even in daylights.  
She arrived to the small town by midday, watching the smials with curiosity : the place had been built in a large clearing. Wooden fences were surrounding the homes and she could tell the inhabitants were mostly living on the forest's ressources. The hobbits sent her some wary looks and went on with their routine. She decided to not bother and to find the very small office to deposit the mail. The office was empty and there was nothing for her to bring to Hobbiton. Alright, she could do with that...  
She bought some food before leaving to eat on the road : travelling on an empty stomach wasn't good and she would need her energy if she had an hostile encounter on the way.  
...  
Or four hobbits fighting over what seemed to be a broken heavy carriage with no pony to pull it on the road.  
"Good afternoon, gentlemen." She greeted politly. "May I help you with that ?"  
All of them were carrying musical instruments. A band of minstrels ? Neat ! They actually startled when they saw her then laughed :  
"The horse-lady ! We thought you were a bear or worse."  
What could be worse than a bear ?  
"Anyway," Spoke one of them holding a violin case. "We need to go to the Party Tree for the upcoming wedding and without the carriage, I fear we will be late for tonight's celebration."  
She frowned : did they really need the carriage to travel ? She saw the different instruments and yes, they needed it if they wanted to arrive fast. But maybe not as big.  
"Lads !" Called an older hobbit with a smaller carriage and two chestnut ponies. "Take Magnolia and Rose. They are a bit unruly but if the lady here accompany you, there should be no problem. How are you, Miss...  
-Thunderbolt ?  
-Oh, initiated at last. Well, I am Odd Stick. Welcome to Overhill. Are you headed to Hobbiton by chance ?  
-Yes.  
-Perfect. I need you to guide the ponies to the Party Tree. Those idiotic musicians – "Hey !" - don't know a thing about horses and I don't trust them alone with my ponies. I will ride my third pony later to bring them back but for now, I can't go with them. Would you please accompany them ?  
-It's on my way, I can easily hold two ponies and bring them to the Tree.  
-Great. Guys, put your stuff in the carriage and jump in. If you are late for the Sackville-Bracegirdles celebration, they will ask for your head."  
Eileen stiffened : the Sackville family and the Bracegirdles family marrying ? Those two families were the biggest jerks ever ! What would happen to the offsprings ? Even bigger jerks ? Was it possible ? Would the Shire survive this ?!  
They were dommed...

_While In the merry month of may from me home I started  
Left the girls of Stock nearly broken hearted  
Saluted father dear, kissed my darling mother  
Drank a pint of beer, my grief and tears to smother  
Then off to reap the corn, leave where I was born  
Cut a stout black thorn to banish ghosts and goblins;  
Bought a pair of brogues for rattling o'er the bogs  
And fright'ning all the dogs on the rocky road to Dwaling_

Eileen sighed as she trotted while holding the ponies'reins : the minstrels were singing non-stop.

_One, two, three four, five  
Hunt the Hare and turn her down the rocky road  
All the way to Dwaling, Whack follol de rah!_

She decided to tune them out so she could focus on the road and any potential threats. Nothing seemed harmful on the way. Maybe the wild animals were running away from the musicians in the carriage ?  
It took her four hours to bring the singing band to the giant Party Tree. This place was always decorated and furnished with sturdy mood tables and benches. The Party Tree was the place to celebrate weddings, important birthday parties and of course the Summer Fair, where the strange grey wizard liked to invite himself and bring fireworks to lighten the party up. 

_FROM DELWING'S WAY DOWN TO BUCKLAND'S QUAY FROM SCARY TO FROGMORTON.  
NO MAID I'VE SEEN LIKE THE FAIR CAILIN THAT I MET IN THE HOBBITON_

At least, the musicians were ready to party. She wondered if Bilbo would attend to the festivities. Maybe not, as he didn't like the Sackville, but as a respectable hobbit, he would have to make his presence known, at least for the beginning. Would Samlad be attending too ? Knowing the old hobbit, he would come, just to annoy the hell out of the Sackville family.  
...  
A shame she had to go to Needlehole as fast as possible, she would love to see her mentor trolling them.  
She happily walked to Hobbiton after being sure that the minstrels would be safe at the Tree with the workers preparing the place for the festivities.

Samlad welcomed her with open arms :  
"How is my favorite centaur ? Let me look at you. No missing limb, no shredded saddlebag, no bandage. You did good ! Which way did you take to come back here ? We were not expecting you to come back before the end of the week.  
-Leufroy made me take the path by Overhill. He has another green deliverer from Michel Delving to take care of.  
-Michel Delving, huh ? Let me guess... Snobbish, almighty and "better than you" type ?  
-... Yes.  
-That's Michel Delving for you. So, your road name ?  
-Thunderbolt.  
-Good. Very good. Mine is Painkiller.  
-Painkiller ?!  
-I will tell you all over supper as we have to attend the oncoming wedding tonight.  
-The Sackville-Bracegirdles wedding ? Who in their right mind would let those two families marry each other ?  
-Good question, lass. Now, give me the mail and go wash up. I need you on your two legs or Lobelia will throw a fit. Or maybe you should keep the four legs... No, two legs. Trust me and the boys to bring chaos.  
-I thought I had to go to Needlehole as fast as possible.  
-The letters can wait. Mail deliverers can have fun too, don't forget this. It's like finding shelter from bad weather and waiting until the rain or the snow stop falling down. Do I have to remind you about the pneumonia you caught three years ago because you decided to deliver mail under the heavy rain for the whole day ?"  
She shifted uneasily : that hadn't been her greatest moment...  
"Well, we have a party tonight. So let's prepare, bring some chaos and have fun over supper."  
She felt her mate through the bond : the male presence seemed anticipating something. He hadn't made his presence known the whole day but now as they were talking about crashing a marriage party, he was here to listen.  
She chuckled : this one obviously liked an healthy dose of chaos.

And chaos they did bring.

At first, it had been Lobelia screeching at the whole team of post workers that they were not allowed to come as they weren't respectable enough. Samlad had replied something that Eileen had somehow missed (but not her mate as he had been chuckling through the bond the whole time).  
Then, Siegfried had decided it was time for a toast. The speech had been the most ridiculous and insulting thing ever, but at least everyone excepted the two marrying families had laughed.  
So two male hobbits from the Sackville had tried to make him shut up. It ended in a full brawl near the barrels of beer. And if it hadn't been enough, Folcard and Briffo had managed to antagonize the Bracegirdles into joining the fight.  
Eileen and Samlad were now watching the bigger brawl while deciding to taste the beer. Eileen spat the drink out immediatly and made a disgusted face as her mentor had a more controlled reaction.  
"Yep," Stated the old hobbit. "This beer is a really cheap one. Those two families are not even able to bring good drinks at their own marriage... Greedier than dragons.  
-I thought it was greedier than dwarves.  
-A dwarf will pay good money for a good beer and good meal. This beer here, must be the cheapest available. I wouldn't be surprised if the brewer had somehow taken a piss or two in his barrels. I hope the food is a bit better than that.  
-And should we rescue Siegfried and the others ?  
-No, those Sackville and Bracegirdle are all barks and no bite. Our hobbits can handle them. Look, there is Philibert. What have you stolen this time ?  
-Nothing." Huffed playfully the red haired hobbit. "I checked the food. The meat is the cheapest meat I've ever seen. I wouldn't even give it to my dogs.  
-And the fruits and vegetables ?" Inquired Eileen, wondering if she should stay a little longer or go back to the office now.  
-Not even passable. At least the musicians are good. Come on Ely : let's dance away from those savages. Samlad ! Tell me we have to pick up the pieces.  
-Alright, I will."

Two hours later, everyone was back in the Post, sitting at the table and sharing a late supper as they were laughing at the recent events.  
"By Yavanna, I never thought Lobelia was able to scream that much at this volume.  
-Lungs of steel, this woman. Lungs of steel." Mumbled Philibert. "And a heart of stone. Rotten they are. All of them."  
Eileen winced internally : Philibert was a disowned Sackville-Proudfoot and he knew a lot of horror stories about his family trying to grab everything to get more rich. The mail workers, shirrifs and bounders were all aware of how vicious they could be in order to get what they wanted.  
"Never trust a Sackville" was a thing behond the three professions.  
"Well, to another ruined marriage." Toasted Samlad, followed by everyone.  
The Post of Hobbiton was known for crashing every marriage implying the Sackville family, something like a feud or something close. No one could explain exactly. It simply was the custom : no Sackville marriage could be held without the mail deliverers bringing chaos. And after a good brawl, the team would join back in the Post to share a meal and celebrate their feat.  
"We have been doing this for two centuries." Chuckled Samlad. "And we will go on ! As our predecessor did and his own predecessor had done too !"  
Eileen wondered if she could do some research and find out what could have happened to bring such a custom here. The male presence agreed.  
"Samlad." She asked suddently. "Why Painkiller ?"  
The other hobbits laughed and Siegfried decided to reply :  
"Oh, lass. This is a story. You see, when this old guy and myself were much younger, we were like you : green mail deliverers, with not much experience about the outside world. And one day, we met a horde of goblins in the Bindbole Wood, just after Overhill."  
Eileen shivered : there really were goblins in those woods ?!  
"Yes, goblins. But you know : goblins are nothing but cowards. They never attack alone if their enemy is armed. So, we were fighting off those green ugly monsters when I got injured by one of their swords. Let me tell you : their swords are poisoned and it hurts a lot. I was on the ground, clutching my side and screaming my lungs off in pain while our brave lad was slaughtering them and making them run away like the cowards they are. He knew he had to carry me to Brockenborings to get a healer but he couldn't touch me as it was so painful. I was screaming every time he tried. So, he only had one choice...  
-What did he do ?" Breathed Eileen as the the other hobbits were smirking.  
"I took my staff and knocked him the hell out." Answered Samlad. "Then I carried him to Brockenborings on my shoulders and managed to find a healer in time to save him. But this idiot managed to wake up during the surgery so I knocked him again. Since then, I have been called Painkiller by everyone on the road.  
-Not my fault if you have the nasty habit to knock everyone with your staff when they are wounded. Do you remember the hunter two winters ago ? Poor lad had his leg nearly ripped from his body by a brown bear and you gave him the biggest blow with that bloody stick of yours.  
-So he wasn't feeling pain on the way to the healer. And stop insulting my staff.  
-You're a savage ! Don't even hurt yourself near him, Eileen : you would only win a big headache."  
The druid chuckled but she promised herself to be extra careful around the old Samlad, just to be sure to stay on the safe side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Songs used in the chapter  
> "Rocky road to Dublin" from the High Kings  
> "Star of the County Down" from the Irish Rovers


	9. Chapter 9

###### Chapitre 8 :

Hooves clapped rythmically on the road as Eileen was walking toward Needlehoole and softly singing a song on the way. She had learnt some songs from the musicians and she had to admit it was nicer to travel with music than in complete silence.  
She had left early in the morning, after the disastrous wedding that her coworkers had caustiously -and happily- sabotaged.  
The weather was nice and her saddlebags not as heavy as she thought it would be. Not many people liked to go to Needlehole as dwarvish thugs were often here to attack travelers. That and scary beasts living in the Bog.  
Speaking of this place, she soon found herself in front of the Rushock Bog, where the only path to cross safely was quite narrow and the wooden bridges were old and not that kept in good shape. She would have to be careful as she didn't know how deep was the muddy water here.  
She had never learnt to swim and hobbits never taught her as most of them weren't able to swim at all. Only the Brandybucks were able to swim as they were living next the Brandywine River and keeping the borders in check.  
She looked around, muddy waters, mud and very tall grass. The smell was quite bad and she stepped carefully on the thin dirt road leading to the even thinner wooden bridge. Frogs and toads were croaking around and she could hear things slyther around. Too noisy to be normal snakes. Bigger snakes ? Worms ? She didn't want to check.  
A toad jumped on the road and she froze : what the hell ?!  
Even her mate was surprised through the bond : this toad was bigger than a tomcat ! She clapped her front hoof on the ground and decided to walk carefully around the animal. Toads didn't have teeth but their skin could be poisonous. She didn't need to be poisoned by a toad because it would have been startled and would have jumped on her legs or-worse- her back.  
She passed the toad without harm and continued on the path.  
The wooden bridges were not looking good... Could she even step on it ?  
The male presence wasn't so sure...  
She put a prudent hoof. The wook creaked but didn't break. A second hoof got the same result and she started to progress slowly on the wooden planks. No brutal steps, no jumps, just careful walking...  
The axe who planted by itself in the wood wasn't on the schedule... As well as the five dwarves jumping out of the tall grass and running toward her with yells. One of them tripped in the water and fell. All of them were wearing brown and grey clothes, long beards and their weapons were axes and short swords.  
Eileen reared up and her hooves made harsh contact with the wood, breaking it and making her fall into the water.  
She sweared loudly as she got up, covered in mud and wet from head to hooves. The dwarves were cackling and charging again. She charged her magic, making it sparkle in her hands and sent it toward the nearest opponent.  
Thunder growled as the dwarf was thrown backward by a lighting-like magic. He landed in tall grass with a pained "Oof!" and hell breaked loose.  
The water was deep enough to be dangerous for hobbits, but not for the dwarves nor Eileen who was muddy and really pissed off about them. She bucked, nearly broke her bow by slamming it on the head of one of them, got a cut on her hindquarters and sent another dwarf flying with her magic. One of the dwarves tried to jump on her back and she bolted like a rodeo horse before making him land into a thick mud spot with strange thorn sticking out.  
It turned out it was giant slugs.  
Giant bog slugs were the size of a big dog, wearing long sharp frontal horns and weren't know for their peaceful nature...  
This time, the dwarves ran away in fear as the creatures charged with a surprising speed. Eileen did the same and galopped in the slippery muddy water as stepping on the bridge was out of the question. She finally managed to reach the bank and heard battle cries coming from her left.  
Seriously ?!  
Three dwarves charged through the tall grass, all of them holding battle axes. She charged her magic, fueling it with anger as it was becoming visible around her left hand and arm and made a sharp gesture toward them.  
The thunder provoked by the magic didn't cover the angry and scared screams as the dwarves were sent flying backward with force. Her magic was still sparkling and ready to strike as she scanned mentally her surroundings : no other volunteer ? Good.  
Her mate wasn't even mad for the last blow.  
She growled as she tried to shake some mud off her legs as she continued walking toward Needlehole. Mud everywhere : on the saddle, in the saddlebags, under her clothes... It was going to take hours to wash all of it off.  
It was late afternoon when she reached the village. The local shirrif had a wary look when he saw her then laughed and proceeded to guide her toward the post office.  
The old hobbit holding the office took one look at her and the partially covered by mud letters and laughed loudly. He laughed more when she asked if she could have some brushes, buckets of water and soap and a rather sheltered place to wash of away from curious stares.  
Her packed clothes and traveling stuff had managed to stay clean, thank to her tendency to ward them from water when she was traveling so she would always have dry clothes on hand. The saddle, bags and saddle blanket needed a good soaking and brushing. Herself needed a good soaking and brushing too.  
Some old ladies offered their help, whick she gladly accepted and found herself surrounded by six old gossiping hobbitesses happily talking as something new was in their town and they wanted to be the first to know so they would have the honor to tell the others to gloat.  
Eileen sighed but indulged them as they were helping to clean her horse body. She told them about the Bracegirdle-Sackville wedding, which leaded to gasps and amused laughters as the party had been ruined by the mail deliverers from Hobbiton.  
Apparently, even in Needlehole, those two families weren't appreciated.  
She learnt that most important families here were the Goodenoughs and the Clayhangers. Most of the inhabitants here were doing some small trading with dwarves from the Blue Mountains (or Ered Luin), tending to their own abundant gardens (that was impressive to see) and making pottery.  
They were selling food and pottery to the Longbeard dwarves, as one of the old hobittesses explained to Eileen while brushing her long newly washed horse tail.  
Because there was apparently different tribes of dwarves : the Longbeards, who were the most respectable, and the Dourhands who were nothing but dishonorable thieves and thugs. The druidess was curious about this : were the Longbeards as respectable and the Dourhands as loathsome ? She would have to search about that as well...  
Her mate agreed.  
She shuddered when one of the women showed her a still wringling leech, who had been found on her right back leg. So, leeches were present in the Rushock's mud. Great...  
Luckily, no other leech had been found. Her wound wasn't serious and she healed it magically after having it cleaned.  
Finally washed, dried and wearing clean clothes, Eileen was back in her fully human apperance and greeted the post officer.  
"Good evening, gentlehobbit. Thunderbolt, right from Hobbiton.  
-Well met, Thunderbolt. I am Mud Wolf, keeper of Needlehole Post Office. By seeing your previous state, I assume you encountered some dwarves on the way ?  
-Yes, a few angry dwarves and some angrier slugs.  
-Ah, slugs are the worst.  
-Yes."  
This one didn't seem to like small chat and it didn't disturb the woman who happily accepted the dinner and room for the night.  
From what she saw with the lack of reaction from Mud Wolf, she could tell her coworkers had talked about her and her shifting abilities to many town around Hobbiton. Well, at least they weren't running with torches and pitchforks while yelling "Sorcery !".

The next morning, her saddle, bags and blanket were dry and ready to be used again. She checked the leather, just to see it would need to be oiled when she would be back to Hobbiton. Nothing had been damaged by the dwarves or the horned slugs. Good.  
Mud Wolf gave her a small stack of letters and orders to bring to Hobbiton, the orders would have to be delivered later to Michel Delving, where most of the craftmasters lived. The old man just shooed her away as she trotted playfully around before leaving.  
At the exit of the village, she found a rather young male hobbit with red hair and brown eyes, carrying baskets and large bags full of pottery.  
"Need any help?" She asked as she saw the hobbit grunting and swearing with his wares.  
The small man jumped in surprise and nearly let go of his baskets.  
"By Yavanna, don't do this to me again !!" Yelled the hobbit before straigthening up. "I apologize but I have some work to do.  
-I see that." Replied Eileen, eyeing the bags and baskets. "Where are you going with all that stuff ?  
-Hobbiton ! I will sell them at the market then go back and make more. Why do you have a horse body as well as a human one ?  
-Magic. I'm headed to Hobbiton. Perhaps we can travel together ? The dwarves here are quite agressive.  
-Oh... The dwarves... Well, I've haven't thought of them. It's my first time walking the Rushock Bog to sell my wares. Maybe you can... protect me on the road ? You're a mail deliverer after all. It's your job to keep the roads safe."  
That was more the shirrifs'job but well...  
The young male hobbit, who had introduced himself as Bero Chubb-Clayhanger, was rather happy to have a traveling companion, even if it was just to go to Hobbiton. He tied most of his wares on Eileen's back as she hissed a bit under the added weight : her centaur-self had never been sturdy enough to carry heavy things. She was, at best like had said Belladonna, a big racing pony like the thin desert horses from the deep south of Middle Earth.  
She used her taller size to look around as they were walking on the path (trotting would damage the potteries) : the dwarves seemed to not be around today. Maybe they were still sore from their recent defeat, or waiting somewhere else to do an embush... The only way to know was to go on.  
The broken bridge was enough to distress Bero who was scared of the water and what could hide in it, making the druidess sigh. She gestued him to jump on her back as she could walk into the water without problem and they continued as he was ranting on the way.  
"Bridge broken. Unacceptable. I will warn the shirrifs from Hobbiton. It had to be repaired as soon as possible. Respectable hobbits don't swim ! As if dealing with the dwarves wasn't already enough ! Who seriously let that bridge fall into such a state ? Unacceptable..."  
Eileen rolled her eyes and judged wise to not tell that it was in fact her who had broken the bridge. In her defence : the wood was already bad.  
Her mate chuckled in her mind as she was playing innocent about the wooden bridge, but went serious as she spotted the brown and grey tunic of a dwarf badly hidden in the tall grass. The dwarf in question was wearing a metal helmet and had so much facial hair that it was impossible to see if he had eyes or not.  
"Is something wrong ?" Pipped the hobbit, finally done with his ranting. "What is it over there ?  
-That, Mr. Chubb-Clayhanger, is a dwarf. As you can see, a dwarf is composed of different parts : two feet, two legs, one torso, two arms, one beard and one helmet."  
The male presence chuckled and seemed to wait for the next event. The dwarf didn't seem to notice them, or maybe he didn't want to notice as they passed him. When they were further away from him, he moved toward north, in the abrupt hills projecting over the bog.  
Weird...  
She shrugged and went on, carefull about her heavy bags and baskets hanging on her back with the hobbit who seemed to have decided to stay on the saddle until Hobbiton.  
If Eileen could easily walk an entire day without stopping to eat, hobbits could not and she actually had to halt and wait until her traveling buddy was done eating to continue. And knowing how many meals a hobbit usually took during the day, she wasn't going to be back to the Post until nightfall, at least...  
She was wrong.  
They arrived at Hobbiton around midnight ans she was stiff from all the weight on her back. Bero finally jumped off and untied his bags and baskets before putting everything in the Green Dragon Inn where he was going to spend the night and hit the market next day.  
Eileen shook herself and walked toward the Post, hoping she wouldn't wake anyone...  
"Here she is !!"  
And she did... Or they were waiting for her... They probably did.  
"And she survived !!" Cheered Siefried. "Let's celebrate this !"  
Philibert saw the muddy legs and tail and stopped the other hobbits before they would pillage the ale barrels and pantry.  
"Maybe help her to wash the legs and tail before having a celebration..."  
And that was how Eileen found herself outside at midnight, brushing her hooves and horse legs clean while the other were more having a waterfight than really helping.  
And this time, they had to take of three leeches from her legs, before throwing them into the nearest fire.  
"Now, let's celebrate our newest full-fledged mail deliverer !! Keep your four legs, it's fine ! We have enough space and you need to dry off !"  
Siegfried sang so loudly that he managed to wake up a grumpy Samlad who chased him outside with his beloved staff.  
Alright, a normal night in Hobbiton... For the mail deliverers of course.


	10. Chapter 10

###### Chapter 9 :

Eileen looked at the map in her hands : today was her first trip to the Blue Mountains, where she would have to find the elven realm and the city of Duillond. Rangers had brought mail in Hobbiton to be delivered to this town and Samlad had decided to send Eileen on this mission, as the other hobbits were already busy with their own delivering trips.  
Eileen had been a full-fledged deliverer for five years now, and she hadn't spoken to Bilbo since, as her coworkers were always doing their best to keep them from seeing and meeting each other.  
In five years, Eileen had mastered her bow on thieves and beasts. Her daggers were still sharp and swift and her magic could be deadly on dark beasts (tested on goblins near Dwaling in the north part of the Shire, to the local hobbits delight). Since they could now send her on the most dangerous paths, Samlad had no remorse about the Blue Mountains and Falathorn. He didn't want her to try the dwarven part first as dwarves were not as peaceful as elves. Maybe in a few months, or years...  
For now, he just hoped that she would be fine with the elves who tended to be a bit much at first. Their own presence was powerful enough to unsettle the most stoic hobbit and it took time and repeated exposures to get used to it and not be in awe in the presence of elves anymore.  
He had told Eileen about his first encounter with elves, watching her shudder as he was talking about the scout who had been extremely beautiful and gracious, and then had threatened the small mail deliverer with his dual swords. And Samlad hadn't even been able to protect himself as he had been in awe of this ethereal creature in front of him.  
Oh gods... Elves seemed to be an handful... If there was one thing than Eileen didn't like were people being an handful. Samlad smirked as he saw her take her bow and a full quiver of arrows. Those elves were not going to do the same trick as they had done on him decades ago. He promised himself to ask a detailed report when she would be back.

Later, as the summer sun was glowing brightly, she was trotting toward the Rushock Bog, wondering if she would meet dwarves on the way or not. They tried an attack on her at least three times a month, always ending flying away by magic to land in bushes, mud or sometimes trees. She had to admit : those dwarves were really stubborn in their own way. Why the hell keeping attacking her if they were always ending face in the mud or stuck in a tree ? Had they nothing better to do ? Like smithing, wood-cutting, or maybe even knitting ?  
She still walked carefully on the wooden bridges : it had been repaired long ago and reinforced but she had broken parts of those bridges more than once (she wasn't proud of that) because of a too forceful step or surprise-attack from dwarves. As far as she knew : the bridges had to be fixed at least once every two months, sometimes more. Today, no one tried anything.  
Good.  
The old hobbitesses welcomed her as she entered the village during the evening, happy to share some gossips from Hobbiton and surrounding towns.  
Yes : the Sackville family had somehow managed to piss off the whole Took clan and it was now a litteral cold war between them, and any attempted assault would lead on harsh retalations. Lobelia's shrieks were now a common occurence in Hobbiton as well as the younger Tooks throwing rotten eggs and tomatoes (sometimes even rotten potatoes) at every smial belonging to the Sackville family.  
Yes : the Brandybucks had managed to kill a bear-sized wolf while patrolling the edge of the Old Forest (a dangerous place where trees were reputed to move by themselves and attack unsuspecting people and where some vile creatures could be found roaming around).  
And yes : the shirrif from Scary had to deal with a bad infestation of really big spiders in the stone quarry and they had troubles to keep it under control, even if inflamed arrows were efficient against those eight-legged monsters.  
And again, yes : there was apparently a male giant living in the Brandy Hills, further north of Buckland.  
And no : Eileen had not seen the giant nor fought him so she could not describe how actually tall he was and how dangerous.  
Personally, the druidess wanted to stay far away from this giant and would not cross him unless in a life-threatening situation where she would have no other way to escape or to protect a companion.  
Her mate agreed with her decision to not try and confront this potentially deadly foe. She had enough to deal with the usual bothers on the roads.  
The old ladies gushed at her new saddle (her older one had been falling into pieces since a rather close call with a grumpy black bear) and new saddlebags. Her saddle was rather flat and light compared to the ones usually made for ponies or horses but since it was mostly used to carry mail and stuff and didn't need a rider, it was fine for her.  
After her equipment had been approved by the hobbitesses, Eileen was finally able to leave the town and walk toward the Blue Mountains. The path was winding by moments and it took some hours to finally find the first stonebridge. She paused : this was not hobbit-made. No, the design was heavy, sturdy, and imposing. The stones were carved and this bridge was obviously old but was strong enough to hold on for a few centuries if not more.  
Only two races in Middle Earth were known for building long-lasting things : elves and dwarves.  
By the style, it was certainly the dwarves who created this bridge.  
Her mate confirmed by sending her an approving feeling and she was quite proud of this.  
At least this bridge wasn't going to get broken by her stepping a bit harder on it...  
Seeing how late it was, she decided to cross the bridge and then set camp. There was no wild animal around, nor people. Spending the night should be peaceful but she was still going to ward her camp just in case.  
The night was peaceful and she managed to get enough rest for the next day. The only thing bothering her was the subtil feeling of being watched. She walked until she saw a long bridge crossing a really large river.  
She checked her map : this was the Lune River. Duillond shouldn't be that far as she was now in Falathorn. A small dirt path descended to the river. Great ! She could bath here as the water was clear and the weather nice enough.  
Something moved in the trees near and she looked around : weird... Maybe she shouldn't go to the river... Who knows what type of monsters could be found roaming in those lands...  
An arrow whistled and planted itself just in front of her hooves making her jump in surprise.  
What the hell ?!  
A male elf walked out the cover of the trees. Tall with long dark brown hair, wearing green and brown clothes, made for running and hunting in the woods. He was already aiming at Eileen with his bow and two arrows. The druidess growled : he might glow and be beautiful, but he was already on her "Assholes List".  
"Don't shoot the mail deliverer, you pointy-eared dumbass !!!"  
The elf gasped :  
"You talk !  
-Of course I talk, idiot ! Now, lower this bow before you hurt someone.  
-What are you ?  
-Human firstly, centaur right now, or half-horse if you prefer.  
-Perarroch, then.  
-If you want... Now, will you let me pass or are you still going to shoot me ? I have some letters and orders to deliver to Duillond.  
-Oh. You are working for the halflings... It's rare for them to send one of their messengers in Falathorn. We see the rangers usually. I admit I'm curious about why halflings would send such a strange creature to us..."  
Eileen clapped her hoof in annoyance : this one had tried to shoot her and now he was keeping her on the path and she didn't know if walking around him and ignoring him would work. Deciding to ignore the pointy-eared annoyance, she went on the bridge, still hearing the elf talking and... she looked behind : yes, he was actually following.  
She sighed : would her mate be angry if she kicked this one from the bridge ?  
The male presence sent her some huge disapproval and seemed to insist through the bond. Alright, alright ! She would not throw the annoying elf from the bridge into the water. But if he continued to follow her like that, she was still going to kick him...  
The male presence still didn't agree and she felt him tugging at the bond, maybe trying to send words instead of just feelings but nothing happened.  
This bridge was definitly made by dwarves : strong sturdy and heavy stones. An army could easily cross this bridge and it would not move under their steps. And the elf was now following in silence.  
She found some low banks covered in grass and the water was clear enough. Alright, time for a bath, she had pebbles in her hooves to get rid off.  
The elf watched her put her saddle on the grass as well as the bags and blankets. Was he going to stare at her for the rest of the journey ?  
...  
Elves were weird.  
And yep, she had a spectator as she standing in the river, her horse back submerged in the water as she was washing her face and upper body while keeping her back turned to the elf. The water was cool and refreshing since the day was promising to be hot. She had no shame in playing a bit in the water after wearing a clean dark-green sleeveless tunic. She even managed to throw water on the watching elf more than once, with the help on magic, much to her mate's amusement.  
Cleaned and refreshed, Eileen put back her saddle and traveling stuff before returning on the path, still dripping water on her way.  
The elf followed in silence.  
"Do you have a name ?" She asked, after an hour.  
She got no response.  
"Alright, keep your secrets, then..."  
She trotted as the road was larger and made of flat white stones. The land around was green and beautiful, the trees were different than in the Shire, some of them had dark red leaves and some were still covered in large white flowers. The grass was tall and many wild flowers were here and here.  
The mountains were visible in the horizon, imposing in their bare sight. This was really beautiful.  
A crossroad presented itself on the road and Eileen checked her map with her compass : the dwarven territory was further north, so she had to take the south road to go to the elven realm, or Falathorn as it was scribbled on her map. Would the elves be like the one following her ? She hoped not : she had been told that elves were incredibly long-lived and knew many things than most other races didn't. She was curious and wondered if they would be nice enough to teach her a thing or two.  
The male presence was focused as well on the map. It was a bit outdated as the last ones having step foot in the Blue Mountains had been Samlad and Sigfried thirty years ago, but it seemed that nothing had changed since.  
Maybe elves didn't like change... A bit like hobbits.  
Her pointy-eared shadow was waiting on the south-side on the crossroad. Well, maybe it was her turn to follow him. After all, he was an elf, so he should know the right path to the nearest elven town.  
She spotted some buildings futher away, partially hidden by the trees and hills. All of them were built in white stone and dark roofs. It seemed that most of the buildings were looking a bit like oriental buildings from her homeworld, by the structure of their walls and roofs, except it was lighter and white, adding a magical and ethereal feeling to it. It promised to be an amazing sight.  
She stopped in front on a bridge. This was not made by dwarves. The stone was thin and elegant arches were decorating the whole thing. It looked frail. Could she even step on it ?  
The male presence incouraged her through the bond.  
The male elf walked on the bridge and stopped in the middle, turning around to wait for her.  
She took a deep breath and put a hesitant hoof on it.  
Nothing happened.  
She tried a second. Same result.  
Maybe...  
Nope, four hooves on it and still standing up. Her mate was chuckling through the bond as she was proven wrong about the bridge.  
Alright, it was safe to walk on that. The elf nodded and he resumed his walking.  
They passed near trees and something moved in the branches. Eileen stopped to look : nothing ? Strange...  
She started to walk away and she felt a sudden weight fall on her back.  
What the hell ?!!  
She bolted on the road, nearly hitting the elf in front of her and tried to jump and buck the weight off her back until she felt legs and hands holding for dear life on her human waist and horse flanks.  
"Stop jumping around !! I didn't want to startle you !" Cried a male voice on her back. "Please stop, my lute is going to fall !"  
She stopped abruptly and the being on her back nearly slipped off, clutching on everything he could. She turned around to see : another elf.  
This one had black hair and was wearing green and light grey clothes. A lute was tied to his back and threatening to fall off. His eyes were brown and soft, and he looked sheepish, laying on a half horse who was too small for an elf of his size.  
"You look like a toad sitting on a matchbox." Stated Eileen, rising an eyebrow.  
The elf on the road chuckled, the one on her back said nothing but sat straight on her saddle and saddlebags, maybe judging he was comfy enough.  
"Do you at least have a name ?" Asked the druidess.  
The elf took his lute in his hands and started plucking at the cords.  
"My name is Farael. I am a minstrel from Duillond. I was hoping for a ride back home. Are you ready half-horse and half-human ? I thought the scouts were joking."  
Scouts ?! She hasn't seen any scouts except the one waiting for them on the road ! Where were they ?  
She silently pointed to the one on the road and the minstrel chuckled :  
"Don't pay attention to this grump over there. His name is Iolrath and he quite grumpy on the most beautiful days.  
-Really ? Then, how is it during the rainy days ?  
-He is worse."  
The one named Iorlath rolled his eyes and gestued them to come back on the road.  
"Are you going to Duillond ?" Asked Farael, playing with his lute.  
-Yes.  
-Good. Duillond, here we come."  
He pressed his legs like he would do on a horse and Eileen hissed before doing a small buck.  
"I'm not a horse." She warned. "Don't even think on spurring me or I will throw you off."  
He shrugged and went on playing his instrument. She sighed and walked back to the other elf so they would go on on their journey.  
The male presence seemed really annoyed on something she couldn't understand.  
Eileen hadn't seen elves before but she was sure of one thing : they were sneaky and could be some troublemakers, more like the Took fauntlings.  
Now, what was waiting her in Duillond ?


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> perarroch : half horse in elvish

###### Chapter 10 :

A strange creature was actually waiting for them on the road, just before the entrance of Duillond. It was nearly as tall as Eileen, with a dog-like body and...  
Wait...  
Eileen froze : her magic was recognising this unknown creature as one of her kin.  
It was a druid ! A druid like her ! With a dog-taur appearance ! She was so happy to meet someone like her !  
The druid ran toward tham and tackled the elven scout in full speed.  
"Iolrath !! Where were you ? Everyone is back and waiting for you !"  
This druid was definitly male. The animal part looked like a black and white wolf-dog or maybe a husky. he was wearing a light blue sleeveless tunic, perfectly hugging his slender frame. His skin was pale, and his long hair was black with white strands, tied in a low ponytail. His eyes were mismatched : the right one was brown and the left was icy blue. His ears were wolf-like covered in black fur. Eileen could see his sharper teeth and his nails were sharper as well. And he was actually hugging the elf who was trying to free himself from the potentially deadly embrace.  
"Let me go, stupid wolf !" Protested the elf blushing. "You're embarassing me !"  
The minstrel on Eileen's back laughed and it was enough to get the canine druid attention :  
"What the... Nnooo !!! Another druid !!"  
And Eileen got tackled down... By an overjoyed wolf-man... And she still had the minstrel on her back.  
The male presence chuckled at the situation.  
"My name is Ayden. Where are you from ? How long are you staying ? How did you get here in Middle Earth ? You have a saddle and a lot of bags... Are you an explorer ? Do you have a home somewhere ? Do you...  
-Ayden, please." Laughed Farael. "I'm sure the perarroch will be happy to answer all of your questions after letting her up and arrive into Duillond.  
-Oh, right. Sorry, I got a bit excited."  
This one seemed to be a lot to handle...  
She managed to get up, checked her bags (nothing had been spilled, thankfully), waited for the minstrel to get up as well, sighed as he went back to sit on her saddle, and followed Iolrath who was trying to contain the over-excited giant puppy that was Ayden.  
Arriving to Duillond was a strange experience.  
The town itself was an absolute beauty. If every elven towns and cities were like this, Eileen wanted to visit all of them.  
Then the elves. Elves were glowing compared to hobbits, men and dwarves, and they all had a strong aura around them. Being a magic-user, Eileen had a bit of trouble adjusting to the whole lot and had to mentally shake herself of staring and gaping at them.  
She now understood how Samlad had found himself unable to defend himself from a elven scout the first time he had met the Fair Folk.  
Elves were a lot. But she could get used to them.  
All of them were elegant and beautiful, wearing long robes or tunics. All of them had long hair. Maybe it was just the elvish fashion to keep hair long ? She would have to ask... maybe Ayden. She feared to offend the elves by asking them directly.  
The other druid caught her by the hand and dragged her toward the town-center while the minstrel was enjoying the ride and singing some small silly songs in his own tongue. People whispered on the way and most of them were curious about the strange half-horse person walking here.  
Eileen was led toward a big building and Ayden entered without knocking, slamming the door open :  
"Haemir !! There is someone for you !!"  
Eileen facepalmed and stepped inside before slipping on the smooth stone floor, and nearly loosing her footing and the minstrel who didn't seem to want to leave his current spot.  
"A perarroch !" Exclaimed an unknown male voice. "I thought the scouts were joking !"  
Oh for fuck's sake...  
It took quite some time, but Eileen finally managed to give the mail to the brown ellon, as male elves were called, and she had to answer a lot of questions coming from them and Ayden, who was definitly a lot to handle.  
So, elves, from what she could observe, were really curious and loved new things. And Farael was proudly staying on her saddle as he was the first elf to even ride her, something that seemed to unnerve her mate if she could trust the bond. She had to keep moving if she didn't wanted to get her long horse tail braided by some bored elleth, as female elves were called, who seemed to really like horses (that scared the druidess more than it should).  
Finally, Farael decided to dismount and to guide her home with Ayden, who apparently lived with the elf and another ellon named Falael. Apparently, they were twins. The difference being Falael working as a healer.  
Eileen didn't want to impose and if she was listening to herself, she would be running back to the Shire at full speed as it was a bit too much in a too short time. Sadly, she couldn't due to the druid and the minstrel still holding her.  
"Here is our humble home." Cheered Ayden. "Home, sweet home."  
Eileen froze. Wow ! This was so different compared to hobbit smials !  
"It seems you haven't seen a house in a long time." Stated Farael, still plucking his lute. "You don't look like a wanderer, though.  
-It's just that I live in the Shire, with the hobbits. Their homes are... not like this.  
-Hobbits ?" Laughed Ayden. "You live with hobbits ?! Oh gods... They look so fragile and tame ! How living with them could be interesting ?  
-Don't insult the people who adopted me for now fifty years, mangy mutt !"  
Farael snorted in amusement as the druid was laughing even harder.  
"You have been adopted by hobbits !"  
She was so going to murder this one...  
"Ayden !" Barked another voice. "Enough !"  
Another ellon was walking toward them, wearing long light blue robes with a burgundy belt. He was looking exactly like Farael and Eileen understood : this one had to be Falael, Farael's twin.  
"But Fal'. She lives with hobbits ! How can she be taken seriously while living with hobbits ?"  
The healer rose an unimpressed eyebrow and eyed the weapons carried by the centaur as well as the traveling stuff.  
"Certainly someone who has her fair of fights and adventures. Don't laugh at people you don't know, Ayden. One day, it will bring you problems."  
The druid huffed :  
"As if someone raised by hobbits could be dangerous..."  
Eileen was fed up, and even if her bondmate was actually trying to appease her increasing anger, she was going to beat this one's ass.  
Her magic started swirling around her and she charged the male druid without warning.  
"Holy shit !"  
Thunder growled as Ayden was now entirely tackled against the nearest wall, hold by his throat by a murderous druidess whose magic was circling and acting like bluish electric arcs, crepiting and ready to strike. Eileen eyes were glowing softly and she was seething. Her mate was pulling on the bond, doing his best to stop her. Ayden was not laughing anymore but struggling for breath as he was still held by his throat and she didn't seem to want to release him.  
"Perarroch !" Called Falael. "Listen to your bondmate and don't kill Ayden. I know you are bonded to one of my kin, and he doesn't want you to murder another druid, no matter how much of an idiot he is."  
Eileen took some deep breaths, closed her eyes and let the male presence use the bond to calm her down before she could settle her magic and finally let the dogtaur fall on the ground.  
Ayden was panting and shaking and the minstrel walked closer to check if he was okay :  
"I warned you."  
The druid got up on his four canine legs and shook himself :  
"Alright, people from the Shire are not that tame..."  
The druidess huffed and clapped one back hoof in irritation.  
"I'm going back on the road." She decided. "I have other deliveries waiting for me in Hobbiton. Farael, Falael, it was a pleasure meeting you. Ayden, I can't say the same... I wish you all a good evening."  
She turned around and started walking : the sooner away from them, the better.  
"Perarroch, wait !" Farael called this time. "The road is not safe by night. There are wolves and goblins coming down from the mountains and Rath Teraig !  
-Not scared.  
-Not scared ? Do you know how dangerous a horde of goblins can be ?  
-Yes. Been there, done that.  
-Been there... Wait ! What is your name ?  
-Thunderbolt.  
-Your real name !  
-Not telling it. Mail deliverers don't give their real name. Too dangerous. You will have to settle with Thunderbolt.  
-Thunderbolt !" Barked Falael. "I believe my brother wants to know more about your adventures on the road. Will you accept to be our guest tonight and tell us about you and your life in the Shire ?"  
She wanted to refuse.  
Her mate was pushing for a "yes".  
"Maybe it would humble our young Ayden, here. He has been here for a century and I admit he is quite sheltered with us.  
-Hey !" Reacted Ayden. "I'm not that sheltered ! I hunt for the town with the others hunters and fight the goblins when it's needed."  
Her mate was pushing harder on the bond. She sighed and stopped walking :  
"What do you want to know ? Except my name, of course."  
The two elves grinned.  
And that's how Eileen found herself in her human form sitting at an elven table, surrounded by two elves and a less overjoyed human Ayden, who was still a little shaken from her surprise attack.  
Elves were eating the same foods as hobbits, but with a lot more fruits and vegetables and much less fat. Eileen liked that, as Hobbit cooking tended to be heavy on her stomach, making her eat less than she should at meals and snacking more on fruits and nuts on the road.  
Ayden happily told her how he came in Middle Earth : a mangled ritual during the new moon that had killed his familiar (a brave female husky dog) and had left him more dead than alive between two cherry trees near the lake close to Duillond.  
Strange, the same thing had happened to her. Maybe it was the same book that had been used, or the same mentor... Anyway, they were in Middle Earth now with no possible way of returning. But it could mean that other druids had been or still were somewhere in Middle Earth as well.  
Ayden was a strange case : he was bonded to the twins as well as another elf, whose bond was actually closed and scealed.  
"I know that druids can have multiple bonds." Spoke Eileen, frowning. "It's even strongly advised when we are bonded to people who don't use magic at all, so our magic still have an outlet. But how his first mate could make you close the bond ? It could be dangerous.  
-It was dangerous." Answered Falael. "Ayden's first mate was not a good mate. His temper was making our young druid have some terrible rage fits and he was always drained because his mate was litteraly siphoning his power. One day, Ayden fell terribly ill and we couldn't even heal him as he was becoming weaker and weaker. So I used our mind healing arts and discovered what his mate was doing and immediatly closed and scealed the bond. It stopped his magic from being wasted by the other elf but our friend was still fading. So, my brother and I bonded with him and it was enough to stabilize and help him. Now, he is ours and we are his."  
The druid hugged Falael in response and Farael pouted as he wasn't receiving one hug as well.  
"Who is the elf who did that to Ayden ?" Asked Eileen, curious. "How could someone harm his bondmate like this ?  
-Well, he is the king of Greenwood, now called Mirkwood. Us healers can guess who is bonded to who when we focus on people's mind. Your mate will never harm you willingly, I can sense that. Sadly, Ayden was not so lucky. I think there are more druids like you two in Arda, but I hope all of them have good bondmates."  
Eileen nodded as the male presence seemed saddened and angered by the story of the male druid. Farael suddently grinned :  
"So, can you describe in details how happened your final test as a mail deliverer ? I'm sure I didn't get everything, especially with the hunters and the black bears. I want to know everything."  
Eileen groaned : this ellon was worse than the old gossiping hobbitesses from Needlehole reunited around a table with tea served with cakes...  
Her bondmate chuckled and agreed.


	12. Chapter 12

###### Chapter 11 :

"So, you're telling me that there is a bunch of goblins in Limael's vineyard, again ?"  
Eileen rose a curious eyebrow as Ayden was chatting with the elves. Goblin infestations seemed to be common and not just in the north part of the Shire. She wondered how elves dealt with goblins.  
Hobbits just sent the rangers, their most ferocious bounders and shirrifs and it was enough, most of the time. The shirrif of Dwaling had asked the druidess to help while she had been delivering mail in the town because people had been harassed on the road by those small green monsters and he had seen how an angry centaur could make a pack of those green cowards run with their tail between their legs.  
What would elves do ?  
"Avorthal is setting up a team of warriors and hunters." Told Falael. "They will attack before dawn, in a few hours. And this is why I insisted for young Thunderbolt to stay with us tonight. I don't need more work than I usually have with those bunch of barbarians.  
-They are often in the vineyard, though." Frowned Farael. "I wonder what is so appealing to this goblins for them to try to invade this place that often.  
-Maybe they want the wine..." Shrugged the healer. "Honestly, I have no idea."  
Ayden wasn't convinced and he looked like he wanted to do something brash. The twin elves sensed something and went totally serious :  
"I don't think it would be wise for you to accompany the team, Ayden." Started the minstrel. "I'm not saying that you can't protect yourself. In fact, I fully know you can. But the goblins have been taming and using wolves recently to aid in their evil acts. I don't want you to be hurt or worse by one of our kin because you look like a wolf when you have your magical appearance. Like Thunderbolt here who looks like a horse."  
The druid growled but settled down. Eileen smirked :  
"Well, you can't get goblins tonight but what would stopping you from fighting them another time ? If this is a common occurence, you will have a chance someday."  
Falael snorted in disgust :  
"He already had. More than once. Those goblins are breeding fast and they always try to expand their territory. We can't permit that. If they are bold enough to launch an attack on the hunters, then the hunters take care of the problem. Ayden is a hunter, and he has his fair share of fights against goblins. I can tell you about his first fight against them if you want."  
The panicked look on Ayden's face was largely enough for Eileen to accept.  
Hours passed slowly as everyone was standing watch in the house tonight. Ayden and Eileen were busy trying to outdo each other on enchanting objects and small rocks, mostly changing colors ("If one of you is trying to turn my bookshelves bright pink again, I shall punish you." from Farael), changing textures ("Stop playing with that bouncing pebble, someone will get hurt" from Falael), see if they could make a teacup dance on the table (it didn't work), and they accidentaly turned Falael's hair into a rainbow color without him noticing as he had been busy reading a rather heavy book.  
Eileen's bondmate had been chuckling through the bond the whole time, and Farael was doing his best to keep a straight face when he first saw his brother's hair. It took a few tries, the hair changing into some rather vivid colors each time but they finally managed to give him back his natural hair color, still without him noticing.  
The two druids had used their little magic contest to come to an understanding and finally agreeing to be friends. As the only two druids in the immediate area, they needed to keep close bonds. Druids had a lot of conflicts with other magic-users in their homeworld like the one using dark magic or necromancy. Druids magic being mostly white and elemental, it was not compatible with the dark and blood magic and it often ended in terrible fights.  
Falael looked up from his book when he heard the two talking about histories of fighting dark wizards and witches. None of them had actually done this but they had studied the subject with their mentor, studied how necromancers could revive corpses and use them as weapons -Falael shivered at the thought- and how the druidic magic seemed to be really strong against those dark creations. Ayden was really interested when Eileen told him that she had observed the same thing, but with goblins. Would it mean that goblins had been somehow created by using the darkest magic ?  
Farael decided it was time for a story, so he called the two druids to come and sit near him while he took a more comfortable position on his couch. His twin brother rose an eyebrow as he started telling the story of the creation of Arda with the Valars and the creation of the free races as well as the evil creations of the one called Morgoth. Eileen was fascinated by the story as she loved studying the past to have a better understanding of the present events. Ayden was not that interested, probably because it wasn't his first time hearing the story.  
It was strange to hear that orcs at first had been elves who had been captured, tortured beyond recognition and basically brainwashed by the evil valar. And apparently goblins were the evil pendant of dwarves...  
Still strange...  
She shivered when the minstrel told how healers in the past had tried to heal orcs and make them become elves again. Nothing had worked. The dark magic was too deeply ancred in them that it was impossible to change them back, more now as they were breeding for generations and generations.  
Dark magic could transform any living being and twist them into something monstrous. The druidess didn't like it : the magic here had so much more impact than in her homeworld... It was scary to know that. Farael smiled gently : it wasn't a bad thing because if evil magic was stronger, then good magic was stronger as well. The most important was to not be seduced by the dark arts and be a slave of those evil-doers. The most important was to keep fighting the evil forces and keep the free races safe.  
The two druids nodded and Falael rolled his eyes while still reading his own book. Then the ministrel moved to retrieve one big book from his shelves and sat back in the middle of the couch before gestuing the druids to come and sit with him : if they were going to stay awake the whole night in case Falael would be called to heal any injured elf from Avorthal's team, he was going to take full advantage of it. And for that, he had chosen a book retelling many stories from the first and second Ages. This book was usually used with children, as it contained many drawings to illustrate the words. Farael was confident it would be enough to entertain his mate and the druidess for the rest of the night.  
Eileen couldn't read elvish at all, less speak it. Thankfully, the minstrel was nice enough to translate on the spot and the healer groaned in his armchair before slamming his own book on his face.  
"Don't worry." Smiled Farael. "He just doesn't like this book and me reading it loud doesn't help."  
The healer huffed and decided to walk a little while outside and maybe chat with some of the guard patrolling around.  
When he came back one hour later, dawn was peaking and the three were sleeping on the couch, huddled together with the heavy book still open on the minstrel's laps. Falael snorted and did his best to retrieve the book and put it back on his shelf before preparing some tea, knowing he could still be called anytime.  
He hoped the other healers would be up soon, because being alone on the night watch when a team of hunters and warriors were sent to fight goblins was never a good time.  
He was slowly but surely dozing off when an airhorn resonnated, waking everyone on the couch. They were back ! The team was back !  
The druids and ministrel stirred as the airhorn was resonnating again. Eileen yawned as she was under the impression of having slept for just two hours, that wasn't enough at all for her to function at full capacity. And by the face of the elf and druid, it was the same for them.  
"What's happening ?" Mumbled Ayden, rubbing his eyes.  
Farael yawned and stretched his arms before nesting himself further into the couch.  
"The team is back." Explained Falael."I will check on them and see if Gilrhaen and the others are already with them. I will be back shortly."  
He left the house as his twin brother was mumbling a sleepy "See you later." and just went back to sleep.  
Everyone was more awake and ready to attack the day around midday, much to the healer's grief because he wanted to rest in quiet. Farael wanted to be sure the mail deliverer knew which road to take and which one to NOT take. If she took the north road after the crossroad, she would end in the dwarven territory and this place was not as safe as the elven realm. Ayden regretted that Eileen had to leave that soon because he wanted to mess around with her a bit longer.  
"Perarroch !" Barked Falael before Eileen left the house in her centaur form, accompagnied by the minstrel who wanted to be sure she would be on the right road. "Don't forget to write. I expect a letter soon."  
Eileen chuckled and nodded. She would send a hawk or an owl, as druids tended to use birds as messengers.  
"Alright, just expect a bird instead of a messenger."  
She ignored the surprised noises coming from the exhausted elf and Ayden grinned :  
"No problem. Don't send a peregrine falcon, though : it would hunt the pigeons and we use them to send brief messages.  
-We can't have that."  
She was so going to send them a peregrine falcon...  
She ignored the disapproving feeling from the male presence in her head and shrugged herself mentally : she could still send a peregrine and ask the bird to not hunt the pigeons, or a least the one carrying messages.  
Farael wished her a good travel back to the Shire. She wished him, his brother and Ayden to stay safe. The minstrel reminded her to send letters. He wanted a least one every two weeks.  
She smiled and nodded : elves were not that bad, after all. She was sure she could be friend with elves.  
The male presence agreed and sent warm feelings through the bond as she waved to the ministrel while walking on the road, her long tail swishing lazily behind her steps. Time to go back to the Shire and to get back to her crazy coworkers. A part of her was thinking : she remembered when she had been much younger when she and her brother had been trying to find elves in the forest near Hobbiton.  
How would Bilbo react if she told him about the elves living in the Blue Mountains ?  
She wanted to talk back to her little brother... She wanted her brother back. Maybe she should try and speak to him again, when her coworkers would not be watching.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ayden : "We got a letter !"  
> Falael : "Show me."  
> Inhuman bird screech as a huge hawk fly into the elven house before dropping a letter.  
> Falael : Incoherent screaming  
> Farael : plucks his lute and laughs.


	13. Chapter 13

###### Chapter 12 :

Bilbo hummed softly under the morning sun. The weather was nice and promising to stay sunny for at least the next two days. He decided to check on his garden : everything was growing big and strong, thanks to Hamfast Gamgee who was certainly the most talented gardener in Hobbiton. Soon, he would be able to start harvesting...  
A small kestrel chirped in a tree near his garden and he looked up, surprised to meet a human familiar figure he hadn't seen in five years.  
"Eileen." He breathed.  
She looked around, and bowed slightly :  
"Bilbo." She greeted. "It's been quite some time.  
-Yes, last time I saw you, you were going to do your first long dangerous delivery. Where are you going this time ?  
-Oh, just to Tuckborough. I'm not working for the next three days and I decided to do some research on... things about the past of posthobbits and stuff.  
-Oh good. Good..."  
This was awkward as hell. Bilbo knew he had said things that he shouldn't have said years ago. He hadn't been the only one loosing a family during this cursed winter. And he had been too naive to listen to this awful Lobelia... This despicable shrew had been doing this just to try and take ownership of Bag End. Only his grandfather, Gerontius Took, the Thain himself, had been able to keep the greedy and vicious hobbitess from plunging her claws into the smial and its treasures.  
As far as Bilbo knew : Lobelia had always been scared of Eileen and her magic. So she had removed her from the picture, by telling lies into the younger hobbit'ear and manipulating him into rejecting his adoptive sister.  
"Bilbo." Called Eileen softly. "I know my coworkers are not really nice to you. Those guys are too protective sometimes... and they can hold some grudges for a scary long time... But, there is still way for me to sneak around and to send messages... if you want, of course."  
The hobbit hesitated then nodded :  
"I would be happy to receive messages from you. I... I missed you, Ely.  
-I missed you too, little bro'. Don't be surprised when you get a bird of prey at your window."  
He sputtered : a bird of prey ?! But she was gone already. He sighed and shook his head slowly : she was as fast and sneaky as a full-blooded Took. Belladona had taught her well...  
Now, what was the thing with birds of prey... He looked at the tree where the kestrel was still chirping.  
"You don't happen to know what she was talking about, do you ?"  
The bird tilted its head.  
"Of course, you don't." Muttered the hobbit before going back inside his smial.

Eileen was not happy with herself : meeting her brother had been awkward, uneasy. She hadn't known what to say and it had been the same for him... What a shame...  
The male presence chuckled in her head and she groaned : yes, it had been a fail BUT maybe next time would be better.  
It couldn't be worse...  
Well, if you added Lobelia... No, it would be funnier. After all, Lobelia was her favorite target about prank magic...  
Maybe just exchanging letters would be enough for now, to get reacquinted, and then, maybe they would be able to meet again, and not being as bad as they had been just right now.  
She shook herself and shifted to her centaur-form : she had to go to Tuckborough as fast as possible. The Great Smials were hiding the biggest library of the Shire and she had some research to do.  
Her small quest had been surprisingly incouraged by her coworkers, who didn't really know why such a feud was existing between the deliverers and the whole Sackville family, but since she wanted to investigate, now wanted a complete report. She had three days to find out what had happened two hundred years ago.  
By using her magic to boost her speed and cutting through the fields, she managed to arrive in Tuckborough at midday, sweaty and dusty with aching legs. The fauntlings saw her immediatly and ran toward her.  
"Oh crap..."  
And now she had a dozen fauntlings gripping her four legs and three others hanging on her back and... wait, one of them was sitting on her long horse tail and holding it like a sledge being pulled by a parent or a dog.  
...  
Took hobbits...  
"Alright, kids." She tried. "I don't have time to play with all of you right now. I'm on a mission.  
-A secret mission ?" Pipped one of the fauntlings, red-haired with freckles and big blue eyes.  
Eileen ignored her bondmate finding the little younglings highly endearing and leaned down to speak with a lower voice :  
"Yes, a secret mission. I have to go to the library to do some research."  
The kids gasped :  
"Research on what ?  
-Are you going to research about monsters ? Grandpa Gerontius always tell us there are monsters deep in the forests. Are you going to kill the monsters ?  
-Are you going to search and find a treasure ? Mommy says it always starts by reading an old book and finding a map inside !  
-Are you..."  
They went on and on until Eileen decided to start walking with extreme caution. Having fauntlings gripping your legs like koalas on their branch tended to do that on everyone. Maybe one of the parents would walk near and call their children ?  
Or not.  
So, she got stuck with the fauntlings until she arrived in front of the Great Smials. No time to waste, she had to enter, with or without the fauntlings who were still here and obviously happy to get a ride.  
She knocked at the door, opened it, leaned down to enter and slipped on the polished wooden floors.  
"Holy shit !!"  
She tried to regain her footing, only to lost her balance even more, and the fauntlings didn't seem to want to leave and she didn't want to hurt anyone by falling. Her hooves clapped and gritted as her legs went into an uncoordinated panicked rythm until she managed to stabilize enough to not end on the floors.  
"Do it again !" Cheered the kids on her back.  
Oh gods...  
And who the hell polished the floors like this ?! This was totally insane !  
Someone cleared its throat and Eileen looked up to meet a middle-aged stern-looking hobbit with greying hair and brown eyes. He was thinner than most hobbits in the same age-renge but as always : Tooks were different from the rest of the Shire.  
"Welcome to the Great Smials." Greeted the hobbit. "My name is Adelard Took. What brings you here, Mail Deliverer ? I assume this is not the fauntlings...  
-You are right, Mr. Took. I am here but not in my duty as a mail deliverer : I would like to learn more about the history of the feud between my profession and the Sackville clan. No one knows why it exists anymore, and I would like to know what had happened to bring such a feud for two centuries."  
The hobbit looked to a round closed door to his right and seemed to hesitate :  
"Well... as the librarian, I would love to let you consult the books but...  
-But ?" Repeated Eileen, rising an eyebrow. "If my four legs are the problem, I can shift to a fully human appearance.  
-No no. Your hooves are not the problem. It seems there is a... a ghost inside the library."  
A ghost ? That would be a first in the Shire ! Eileen felt her mate getting interrested and from the slight pull on the bond, he seemed to want to know more about this ghost. She wanted to know more as well.  
"A ghost ? Well, I have dealt with some ghosts in the past. Pretty harmless things most of the time. What is this ghost doing in the library ?"  
Adelard looked relieved to have someone who could deal with ghosts and actually guided her toward the closed door to his right.  
"It makes books fall from the shelves and makes a lot of noises. It's frightening and it keeps me from doing my work. I am not a ghost hunter ! I'm a respectable hobbit : hunting ghosts and monsters is not my thing. Please make this thing leave my library and I will grant you access to the library as much as you want."  
The male presence strongly approved this deal, so Eileen accepted.  
"Alright, let's deal with the ghost, then..."  
The hobbit shooed the fauntlings away and opened the door to the library, already scared by the simple fact of opening the door leading to a room with a potential foe inside. The druidess took a deep breath, and walked in, careful to not loose her footing on the polished wood floors again. It didn't stop her back legs to slip a few times, though.  
So, this was the library. It was a rather spacious room for one belonging to a smial. Small rounds windows were letting light in and candles were helping to lighten the whole place. The shelves were sturdy and pushed against the walls, leaving the center free for people to walk across and sit to tables to read or write.  
Nice place.  
And no energy here feeling like a entity.  
Strange...Maybe it didn't make itself known ?  
She walked a few steps and then she heard it.  
Noises.  
Faint running noises.  
Her mate tensed through the bond as she saw something fast moving in her corner vision. Alright, she wasn't sure of what it could be but it was really fast. It moved again, but it seemed to be behind the shelves and moving around.  
She let her magic out and closed her eyes, letting her magic feel the whole room. It wasn't an easy task as it required great focus but this permitted her to detect any invisible entities or hidden creatures. It was called "magic vision" in the druid community as they only used their own magic and let it interact with their surroundings. This could be useful in a pitch black room as well. The most experienced druids could use it without closing their eyes, and it added the now visible energies to the vision. She remembered her master telling him how beautiful it had to be, as himself had never been able to do such a feat.  
The room materialised itself inside her mind, she could visualize the furnitures and books, unmoving and steady. The walls were here as well, strong and unmoving as well. Now, something was moving. Its energy was different. It was a living thing. Fast and scared.  
Eileen made a swift gesture with her left hand and the moving thing got swept in the air, levitating toward the center of the room and kept like this so it could run away.  
She got it !  
Her mate was impressed. She could feel him through the bond and impatient to know what was the small moving thing.  
So she got her magic back under control and opened her eyes, only to laugh at the squirming creature levitating in front of her.  
A squirrel.  
It was a squirrel.  
The ghost was only a squirrel !  
Her mate laughed as well, maybe he had been preparing himself as well for a scary creature or something really dangerous.  
Well... it was a squirrel.  
She grabbed the animal in her right hand and cancelled the levitating spell.  
"Adelard !" She called. "I found your ghost !"  
The hobbit actually squeaked (Eileen felt her mate laugh again) and yelled in a curiously high-pitched voice :  
"Banish it ! Please, get rid of it !! I don't want this monster here in my library !"  
This situation was so ridiculous that she had trouble to keep a straight face :  
"Come and see it, Adelard ! Show it that you are not afraid as the librarian who protect his books fiercely !"  
The hobbit whimpered and entered the room while hiding his eyes. Then he took a deep breath and removed his hands.  
He froze.  
Eileen bitted her lips to not giggle.  
He looked disappointed, relieved and a bit ashamed.  
"A squirrel ?"  
She nodded.  
"The ghost scaring me for weeks is this squirrel."  
She nodded again.  
"It must have his stash of nuts somewhere in the library." Muttered the librarian, looking everywhere. "But who I am to forbid a living animal to save food for winter... Let the beast live. I'm sure we can find a compromise, now that I know this is a living being and not someone coming back from the dead."  
She nodded and slowly leaned to put the small brown animal on the wooden floor so it could run away to hide again behind the shelves.  
Now, that the ghost hunt was over, could she start looking at the books ? She still had her research to do after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Elrond's side :
> 
> With Bilbo : "awkward..."
> 
> With the fauntlings : cuteness overload
> 
> With the library near : BOOKS
> 
> With the "ghost" hunting : "where is the scary thing? Show yourself, you coward!"
> 
> With the squirrel : mentally laughing at the poor scared librarian and probably imagining Erestor in the same situation with Glorfindel as the ghosthunter
> 
> After the whole ordeal : BOOKS


	14. Chapter 14

###### Chapter 13 :

"Interesting..."  
Eileen shouldn't have been surprised to find not one but an entire shelf of books about feuds in the Shire, and half of them were solely related to the Sackville clan. The other half was mostly related to the Bracegirdle clan and a few others.  
Let's talk about problem families here...  
She later turned around and found a really heavy book just on the Took clan.  
...  
Yeah, problem families.  
Her mate chuckled through the bond as she looked to find one of the book covering the feud against the mail deliverers.  
She found none.  
Crap...  
Hum... Well, the feud itself was only between the Sackvilles and the Postworker profession. So it meant it was in the books concerning the Sackville clan.  
She had 16 books to check to find out.  
Well, better start now.

"TO THE SHIRE !!"  
A dozen hobbits todlers with small wooden swords barged into the library and jumped on her, startling her in the process.  
"What the... Hey, find yourselves an opponent of your size ! Ouch. Careful, kids : I nearly stepped on one of you."  
She took her bow and playfully fought against the little ankle-bitters. Knowing how hobbits were, especially young hobbits, they would tire soon enough and leave to other feats. She just had to play along.  
It was relatively easy to do until half of them jumped on her, trying to unbalance her four legged body and to deliver the "killing" blow.  
She carefully fell on her side after making sure there was no fauntling to crush under her weight and went limp as one "stabbed" her equine ribs with a victory shout.  
"WE WON !!"  
And they ran away to find some new mischief to do.  
Eileen folded her legs under her body and got up as her mate was laughing in her head. It looked like this one liked children.  
Now, back to the books.  
The first book was interesting : apparently the Sackville clan had already a few conflicts against other clans even before settling in the Shire.  
She could count at least three honor duels and was surprised what they had been having honor duel during the Wandering Times. Wow, that was actually a surprise ! Who would believe that such a peaceful race could have duels in the past ? As well as a few mariage contracts who had not been fulfilled.  
Well, it seemed something had been wrong with this family since the beginning... She even found some complaints about thievery and scams, but that was only between the civilians. So, how could it involve the mail deliverers somehow ?  
How selling sickly instead of healthly animals would lead to such a tradition ? How selling poor quality wares would get the wrath of a whole profession for two centuries ?  
The male presence send his feelings on the matter, but she couldn't made out exactly what he wanted her to understand. This family had built its statut of scamming and stealing people... Had they somehow scammed the wrong hobbit ? Or the wrong hobbits ?  
It took her two more books but she finally found the mention of one family that was now extinct in the Shire : the Leafwalker clan.  
It was written that this clan was the founder of the postmen and shirrifs as they were written as reckless as the Tooks. Contrary to the Tooks and their propension to seek danger and adventures, the Leafwalkers had been wore focused on protecting the population when they had settled down in the Shire. But protecting towns wasn't enough. How protecting towns would help if there was no way to communicate between the different places ? And that was how the mail deliverers had been created.  
At first, the Leafwalkers had been only delivering letters to the mayors and the Thain, then the whole population had taken the hit and the post offices had been created, and they had started to engage more hobbits to do the work.  
Now to the Sackvilles...  
Suidbert Sackville had been a rather respectable hobbit from Stock and he had been rich enough to attract jealousy from his own family members. That was something Eileen could nearly understand, having seen situation like this in her homeworld and even here. If someone was succeding, someone else would always feel jealous, as Envy and Greed were pretty common after all. Now this rather respectable hobbit was apparently the only one of his clan making an honest life of himself, specializing in selling travelling stuff to shirrifs, deliverers and travellers. And from what she could read, he had been fancying a young hobbitess from the Leafwalker clan, a beautiful small lady named Mentha who was actually working as an herborist and a rather talented one.  
Mentha had been interested as well by Suidbert and they had started courting, following the complete protocol before agreeing to marry. The union was well supported by the Leafwalkers and the mail deliverers, but the Sackville clan had been silent about the situation. Strangely silent.  
The day of the wedding, Mentha had been found dead near the Brandywine River, along with her two brothers who, from the wounds on their bodies, had tried and failed to protect and defend their sister against what had seemed to be an ambush. Suidbert had disappeared as well and had been never found since. Only blood has been sighted in his small smial that the other Sackville had been too happy to claim and get grabby on all the riches inside.  
Everyone had known it had been their doing but sadly there had been no proof to solidify the claims. The mail deliverers, mourning the lost of their beloved suppliers and two of their best coworkers, had since sweared they would do everything they could to make the Sackvilles'life as hard as possible, to avenge their fallen friends.  
And that was how the feud started, and it was actually followed by many others stories, not as tragic as the first but Eileen could now understand that all of those stories had solidified the rule of "making the Sackvilles suffer as much as possible". The mail deliverers never helped a member of the Sackville clan, never give any favor, and always ruin their weddings.  
As she was seeing it at first : the mail deliverers were pretty tame in their revenge, as they simply could have wiped the clan out of the Shire (some of them were crazy enough for that). But if she was thinking deeper, it was vicious as well : every clans in the Shire had to rely on the Post. Being denied of the Post and every forms of assistance from the deliverers was something that could isolate a clan from the rest of the world, and in a time of war or famine, this could be deadly.  
In short, the Sackvilles would be condemned if something drastic was going to happen.  
Were they deserving this fate ? Maybe, maybe not... She wasn't the one to judge the fate of an entire clan. She only knew the Sackvilles were hateful and their greed had no limit and they were ready to do anything to get what they wanted. They were not to be trusted at any moment.

Now, a mystery remained : where was the body of Suidbert ? It had never been found and it was rumored of having been thrown into the Brandywine. She wanted to check that and to be sure since that fact was still unanswered.  
She sighed : it looked like her quest for answers wasn't done and she still had a mystery to solve. She looked by one of the windows : night had already fallen. She had spent the whole day researching and her stomach was now grumbling.  
The door opened and Adelard walked in :  
"Hey, ghosthunter ? Are you going to spend the night with the books or are you going to eat with us ?  
-Us ?  
-Well, me and the others occupants of the Great Smials of course."  
That meant she might to eat with Bilbo's grandfather, Gerontius Took. She had met the man an handful of times and he was... rather intense. Nobody messed with the Thain and you easily knew why. The old hobbit was still quick and deadly with a walking stick and his words were sharper than swords.  
Alright, she could do it.  
"I merely accept your invitation, Adelard. But be aware I will own you a favor. Just tell me what do I need to do and I will abide."  
The librarian chuckled :  
"I will keep that in mind. Now, if you could just not slip until arriving at the dining-room, it would be great."  
Being invited to the Thain's table wasn't something to joke with, and Eileen was going to be on her best behavior for the whole evening.  
She had some letters to write as well to Samlad, Bilbo and Aiden (and his two mates) to tell them about her research. Knowing Farael and Falael, maybe they had met hobbits who had known about Mentha Leafwalker's murder and his husband disappearance. If they had some informations to share, Eileen would be happy to have it before scouting Stock and the River.  
Thankfully, she had been able to write the letters and give them to hawks nice enough to accept the mission.  
Now, she had to refresh herself and to be presentable for a dinner with the Tain and his family. So she was actually back to her fully human-self and putting on a clean tunic from her pack.  
...  
She could do this. She had done it in the past when Belladonna had been bringing her everywhere on her travels.  
But Belladonna was no more...  
Her mate sent her comforting thoughts through the bond and she shook herself : if Belladona was still alive, she would have kicked her horse hindquarters and told her to get a hold on herself. And she would be right : Eileen shouldn't dwell on her adoptive mother's death, she had mourned her years ago. She had to focus on the present.  
Like this dinner.  
She was so doomed...  
"Where is my favorite adopted granddaughter ?!! Where is she hiding ?!"  
She jumped as she heard the booming voice of Gerontius Took. Oh crap, he was near...  
"THERE SHE IS !! So, I've been told that you saved Adelard from a squirrel. I want the entire story at the table as well as your other adventures since last time !"  
Oh dear...  
This was going to take some time.  
"Alright, come on ! Dinner is ready !"  
He slapped her on the back and pulled her toward the dining-room where Eileen could see the long table full of different foods (there was enough to feed a small army for sure) and one, two, three...  
...  
Twenty-three hobbits ?! All of them waiting for theThain and his guest.  
Let's talk about big families here !  
The male presence chuckled as she was slapped once more in the back :  
"So, tell me all about the ghost in the library."  
Adelard facepalmed and Eileen wasn't so sure on how to start...  
Maybe by why she was here first ?  
Yeah, that could be a good idea to give some context before telling about the "ghost"...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In Duillond :  
> Ayden: "Hawk incoming ! With a letter !"  
> Farael: "If this is about another fight in the mud against dwarves, I want every detail of it !"  
> Ayden: "Actually, this is about a ghosthunt and some mystery to solve."  
> Farael: "Ooh. Do tell."  
> Falael: "I'm surrounded by idiots..."


	15. Chapter 15

###### Chapter 14 :

Gerontius Took was en elderly hobbit, but his mind was still sharp and his body strong. So when he heard about Eileen investigating the feud animating the Post against the Sackville clan, he could only do one thing : incourage the druidess to go further and find out the truth. She was adopted by the Took by his own daughter after all, she had to be worthy of belonging into such a prestigious and adventurous family.  
The Took had always been leaders in the Shire, or adventurers, bounders, mail deliverers... Their lives had to be adventurous to be considered as worthy of being a Took.  
For now, he could tell she was living up to his expectations : fighting thieves, bears, dwarves, meeting elves and now searching the truth behind the mystery of Suidbert Sackville's murder. Still, it wasn't as good as Bullroarer Took or as Corbinian Took, or even Thankmar Took but this was a good start.  
After all, Corbinian Took started small before being a rather famous talented treasure hunter in the Barrows-downs. Or Thankmar, who had been a mercenary working for men and dwarves and being suspected of at least thirty kills if not more... Gerontius himself, before settling down and becoming Thain, has done some shady stuff as well in his younger years. This was simply the Took way.  
A shame his grandson Bilbo wasn't following his mother's steps...  
He laughed heartly at the "ghost in the library" story and nodded approvely to tales of fighting dwarves in the Rushock Bog. If his granddaughter wanted to solve the death of a hobbit that happened two centuries ago, he wasn't going to stop her. Suidbert's body had never been found after all. 

The next morning as she was back on the road, Eileen was surprised to find a snow-white owl with a letter attached to its talons. The bird was obviously waiting for her and pinched her fingers when she managed to detach the letter. She offered some dried meat scraps to the animal who took them with a huff before leaving.  
The letter was made of parchment, with an elegant writing. Too elegant to belong to a hobbit or a man... Curious, she opened it and smiled : it was from Farael !

_Dear Eileen,_

_Firstly, I would like to thank you for your last letter : there isn't much murder mysteries in Duillond and Falathorn anymore. Now I have the upper hand on every gossiping in the town.  
The Leafwalker clan is familiar to me and my brother. They were honorable hobbits and were not scared on delivering letters to our town and Celondim. A shame the clan had died down._

_Speaking of the murdered supplier, Falael reminded me of an interesting tale concerning him : Suidbert had actually been disowned two years before his disapperance. The Sackville clan had rejected him and he was known as Suidbert Noname before being taken in by the Leafwalkers.  
The wedding would have solidified his adoption into the Leafwalker family. I merely assume his old relatives couldn't accept that the rejected one was going to keep an happy and successful life...  
Jealousy is really a terrible sin indeed._

_The Leafwalkers had a really distinctive sign that had always singled them out : all of them, without exception were wearing a iron ankle bracelet on the left foot. Don't ask me why : I've never gotten the story out, sadly. Maybe it was linked to their own past or something similar... But if Suidbert had really been adopted into the clan, he should have been wearing an ankle bracelet as well._

_Ayden is asking when you will be visiting again. Still not talking to your little brother ? I know your coworkers are really protective of you but I think they exagerate a bit : this is your brother and family ties are important._

_I'm displeased to inform you that Ayden had managed to get himself hurt while exploring the north of Falathorn. He has met a dwarf and had found nothing better to do than antagonize him. He ended with an axe planted into his right back-leg under his peraraf appearance. I don't have to tell you how angry was my brother. This was two days ago and he is still upset about this._

_And please, next time, don't give your letter to such a nasty hawk. This one had bitten my fingers three times before letting me get the letter, and it scared Falael while he had been researching. My brother is not forgiving you for the spilled ink on his healing books, you better have to watch out during your next visit._

_May your travels stay safe,_

_Farael of Duillond,_

Eileen gasped: there was a possibility of recognizing the body if she ever found one ! She wasn't actually that surprised about the minstrel knowing about the Leafwalkers but to find out that Suidbert had actually been disowned... This hadn't been written in the book at all ! Adelard would have to add a note about this !  
She put the letter in a smaller saddle bag to not loose it and continued walking on the road crossing the Green Hills. This road could be treacherous at times since mannish thieves were hiding in ruins at the south of Woodhall. Eileen had often gotten into fights on this road surrounded by forest. The men were always trying to set an ambush on her, even after being beaten many times before.  
Nearly as stubborns as dwarves... But just as stupid.  
Her mate made himself known through the bond just right before she passed near the thieves'den, she could feel his distrust about the place.  
Well, it was justified.

"GET THE HORSE GIRL !!"  
Oh for fuck's sake...  
She sent five burglars flying backward by a swift arm gesture. By the screams, some of them had managed to land in some brambles. Good for them.  
She ignored the amused and proud feeling coming from the male presence through the bond and shook her long horse tail before trotting lazily on the path.  
The road was quite quiet, only a few farmers and bounders were working and patroling. One old farmer, was know for his big farm and was really ferocious when protecting his land. No one was really certain of his name, so he was just farmer Maggot, and he had quite a secluded family with a rather secluded life. Eileen made sure of not stepping outside the road : this hobbit was crazy enough to shoot people with a crossbow and she didn't want to end with an arrow in the hindquarters !  
One time had been enough, thanks...  
The sun was starting to settle down when she heard a familiar voice calling :  
"Eileen ! Over here !!"  
She clapped one hoof in anticipation and turned around, only to recognize Siegfried waving at her and running as best as he could and panting.  
"Siegfried ? I thought you were delivering on the northern part of the Shire.  
-There had been a change of plans, dear. Goblins had been harassing Dwaling again, so they have sent the most ferocious on the post. I'm too old for fighting goblins now, you know. But if you have some time, I would love to accompany you on the road to this lovely town and to coach you on fighting those green monsters.  
-I thought it was Samlad's job.  
-Well, as the second oldest posthobbit of Hobbiton, it's my job as well. Samlad went to Dwaling with the bounders and some hunters from Brockenborings. I guess he wants some actions on his old days. What are you doing there on your vacation time ?  
-Trying to solve a two centuries old murder mystery.  
-Oh. Well, allow me to stick with you. A murder mystery you said ? Tell me more about that."  
The old hobbit was happy to hitch a ride while Eileen told him about what she found out in the library inside the Great Smials. In return, he told her about the times when he was been fighting some cursed human undeads with other posthobbits and bounders near the Old Forest during the longest night of Winter sixty years ago. That was quite scary to hear but Eileen got confirmation that ghosts existed in the Shire but were often tied to the Old Forest and they were a rare occurence. Undeads were cursed people, sometimes dead because of a strange plague sickness, or cursed by some really dark wizards. The best thing to do with them was to end their misery, and destroying their bodies with fire.  
Eileen shivered when the older hobbit told her about severed arms crawling on the ground and trying to catch and hit people. Creepy...  
She froze suddently, startling Siegfried who stopped talking.  
"What's wrong, girl ?"  
She shushed him and rushed behind a tree and some bush, the hobbit holding her saddle for dear life. Something was wrong but she couldn't tell what it was. They were near the Brandywine River but no one seemed to be around.  
"There is a weird feeling here..." Whispered Siegfried. "Let's stay there and wait for the dawn, Thunder. Moving around right now would be dangerous."  
Oh, they were back to road names.  
"Alright Arrow. Is this thing normal ? Does this happen often ?  
-No, it doesn't and this is not good. We need to stay alert : something unnatural is close."  
They stayed hidden behind the bushes and tree for hours, dropping their bags against the tree trunk in case they would have to fight or else. The male presence was alert as well, surely reacting to Eileen's awareness about the surrounding area. The druidess had shifted back in her fully human body and was starting to get bored in their constant watchful stance when her magic felt a very subtle shift.  
Something was moving on the River bank ! It was tall and dark and the energy coming from this was just wrong, sorrowful and painful. Siegfried let out a shocked gasp and Eileen litteraly swiped him to get and hide behind the tree trunk, heart pounding between her ribs. She was scared and the hobbit with her wasn't feeling any better. Taking a few shaky breaths, she tried to glance from behind the trunk and shivered. The strange shadow figure was still here on the banks, singing a haunting song in some unknown language. This song was depressing and hurting and actually felt tears rolling on her cheeks without being able to control them.  
Her bondmate was distressed as well and a part of her wanted to crawl into a hole and hide.  
"It's alright, Thunder." Whispered Siegfried. "It's alright. Let's stay hidden and maybe this one will go away on its own. Don't worry, dawn will come soon."  
It took a long time for the shadow figure to walk away or even more time for the bad feeling to leave as well. The druidess was shaking and feeling utterly drained. The hobbit wasn't looking better, pale with dark circle under the eyes. The night had been horrible for them.  
"You know," Spoke Siegfried slowly as we were preparing some breakfast on a small camp fire. "This shadow figure is said to walk here every two or three decades, leaving behind a trail or pain, terror and sadness. It appeared before the Fell Winter and now it's here again. I hope this is not a bad sign. Hobbits are not ready for another Fell Winter.  
-No one would be ready for another Fell Winter..." Nodded Eileen. "I sincerely hope this wasn't an omen or something similar. Its presence alone is enough. I will have to write a letter to my elven penpals and see if they know something about this. This was too tall to be a hobbit and way too powerful to belong to men. The language is not mannish, but I've never heard the elves from Duillond speaking something similar.  
-Well if they can help us to understand what it was, it would be great. I think we should rest a bit and shake this off. So, do you feel up for another music lesson ?"  
His lute was too small for her, but she was happy to have taken the habit to keep a recently acquired lute, adapted to her size, what was looking and sounding more like an irish bouzouki from her homeworld than a lute. Music was a blessing on the roads. The only cons was the fact that it had to be heavily warded against mud and water.  
Maybe they weren't feeling right because of the remains of energy from the shadow figure, but if they could shake it off by putting their minds on some music, they were going to play until they would feel better.  
"Now, listen to the sequence I will play and try to do the same... No, not like that, lower your hand a little... Better..."  
Further away, a strange translucent creature was roaming around the River Bank. It was small and had round pointy ears, looked like it had been badly wounded at the back and throat. The creature looked around, wept in a silent cries and disappeared as the sun was shining.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Siegfried and Eileen just met Maglor from afar and certainly got the hell scared out of them (the last sight of Maglor in the Silmarillion is him wandering on the shores and singing his pain and sorrow and no one knows what happens to him next). Well, why not making a small cameo of him wandering near water and terrifying everyone on the way ?  
> And sometimes, Eileen's music lessons are the reason for Elrond's headaches (she is new to music playing, be patient with her).  
> And yes, there is a ghost near the river.


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No, I didn't abandon the story nor I've forgotten it. I had been very busy with work lately and I barely had time to write in peace at home. Hope you enjoy the new chapter. :)

###### Chapter 15 :

The two mail deliverers waited until midday before moving from their camp, tired but alert after the event of last night.  
Eileen was back in her centaur-form and was now looking around on the river banks, using her magic to feel the area. The shadow figure had left no print at all and that was really strange. Whatever walked there was fully gone and if Siegfried was right : they would not meet it for another two or three decades.  
She hoped he was right.  
Now if she could find something to solve her murder-mystery, it would be great. She knew she wouldn't find a body : too much time had passed and she didn't think the Sackvilles would have written where they had buried their murdered relative, if they had even burried him. Siegfried was waiting against a tree further away : something to do with bad memories about the Brandywine River, too much homemade liquor and the Brandibuck family.  
She clapped her right front hoof on the ground, thinking : if she was a hobbit from the Sackville family, who had disowned one of their relatives because he was different, and since he was still living better and getting married into a more prestigious clan... How would she kill that family member and dispatch the body ?  
Well... The books told about an ambush near the river but where exactly ? The Sackville weren't brave : they would never wander too far from towns. Where could they attack ? Somewhere close enough to the town, but far enough to not be spotted by the other inhabitants of Stock.  
Hmm...  
Could magic help ?  
There was a trick her Master had shown her once, with sand. But could she do it ?  
...  
It wouldn't hurt to try, if she had access to sand.  
So, no trick. What else could she use ?  
"Thunder !" Called Siegfried. "Look behind you !"  
She turned around : nothing. She looked at the posthobbit : what ?  
"It's gone..." Shuddered the elderly hobbit. "There was a translucid figure behind you. It was a hobbit but when I called you, it disappeared."  
A ghost ? A real one this time ? Well, why not ?  
"What it looked like ? Maybe it can help ?  
-It looked like a hobbit, wearing bloody clothes and a dagger. Oh, and a metal bracelet at the ankle... Did we have slavery in our past ?  
-No idea. Maybe. But there was no mention of slavery in the books from the Great Smials'Library.  
-Hmhmm... It looked like a slave ankle bracelet. Strange... You said you have some elves as penpals, maybe you should ask them next time if they have heard of it in the past. It's not impossible. Our race is quite secretive and distrusting with strangers, it must come from somewhere."  
She nodded : it was true that hobbits didn't like strangers in the Shire, and knowing that this place had never been invaded, it was quite strange. It had to be coming from their Wandering Times, maybe even before... This seemed to be quite the history project...  
Her bondmate shifted through the bond and she felt his interest over her musings.  
"The ghost !" Yelled Siegfried. "Look at your right !"  
She turn her head and froze : what the... ?!  
That was a hobbit ?  
... Even the male presence was perplexed.  
Whoever it was, it looked severely injured. It was a silvery figure, looking like a male hobbit wearing traveling clothes and a dagger at the belt. Deep wounds could be seen at the torso, caused by a blade, and some silver blood was showing in his unkept hair. A rigid metal bracelet was sitting on his left ankle.  
A member of the Leafwalker clan.  
Was this spirit intelligent or just residual energy ? It could be tricky to distinct the two. Siegfried walked closed until he could touch and grab her saddle.  
"Is it the one you're looking for ?  
-I'm not sure. The one we are looking for is a merchant, not a seasoned mail-deliverer."  
The ghost yelled in a silent cry and disappeared, not aknowledging them at all.  
"And this is not really a ghost but residual energy. We can't interact with it, but if this one is here, it means that something tragic had happened in this area. Maybe we are in the right spot. Now let's think : how greedy and jealous hobbits would deal with a newly-killed disowned family member ?  
-The simplest way would be to throw the body into the water, And with that current, the victim had certainly been carried away toward the south. We will not find anything anymore here. The Sackvilles are not honorable : let's just hope this good Suidbert had a quick death. If this can make you feel better : his spirit is with Yavannah's garden and back to his beloved and adoptive family."  
A strange shift in the surrounding energy made Eileen tense : something was near ! Something unnatural !  
She hoped it wasn't the shadow figure again...  
Siegfried yelled and jumped away as something seemed to jump through the water and grab Eileen by the front legs.  
"What the ?!"  
She reared back but it was pulling her toward the water. What was this thing ?!  
The hobbit caught her saddle and pulled back. Her bondmate was alarmed and was fighting through the bond to take control. She was fighting to stay on the solid ground as her hooves were slowly slipping forward. She needed to see the thing !  
The sun was reflecting itself on the surface and she finally spotted it : a human-like figure entirely made of water.  
A water-wraith !  
She fell into the river, taking the older hobbit with her as he was still grabbing her saddle. The hobbit fought for breath as they were being pulled deeper and deeper. Eileen gritted her teeth and charged her magic, crossing her arms on her chest.  
Wraiths were unresting spirits, mostly caused by a violent death or transformed by necromancy. Either way, they were dangerous but druidic magic seemed to be really efficient against them.  
Her magic was crepiting.  
The wraith screeched. The sound was muffled by the water and the druidess released her magic. Lighting sparks of magic striked all around her and the hobbit and the wraith screeched more. The water was agitated. Siegfried grasped her saddle and the pulling stopped and they finally start to swim toward the surface.  
She pushed the hobbit toward the banks as he was struggling so he could stay safe and get his breath back, then the wraith attacked and pulled her down. Again, she used her magic to make it go away but she knew it was going to charge again : this thing wanted to kill and would stop at nothing !  
This one was powerful for a simple wraith. She needed to use more power to fry it on the spot. She could do it, but she would be unable to do much more for a few days. She managed to take a breath and let herself being pulled down, focusing on her core. Magic was flowing through her whole body, she needed to charge her power. It started to make sparks under the water. The wraith was agitated and furious. When it decided to strangle her to quicken the kill, she released the attack.  
Lightings striked and her magically charged right hand managed to get a grab on what seemed to be a throath.  
She had caught him ! Now she could deliver the killing blow !  
And she did by forcing magic inside the wraith so it would blow up from the incompatibility between druidic magic and its dark nature.  
The creature screeched horribly before exploding in crepiting sparks and the waters appeased themselves. Eileen swam toward the surface and panted as she tried to pull herself back on the solid ground.  
"Eileen !" Called Siegfried, running toward her and trying to help her. "Are you alright ? What was this monster ?! Did you kill it ? Please tell me you have killed it !"  
The world was spinning : she had used too much magic in one go and it made feel sicker than the brief stay in the muddy water. Her stomach revolted and she retched in the tall grass, her equine legs unable to carry her weight anymore. She was cold and her whole body was hurting.  
"Did you kill it ? Wait ! What is that thing at your back leg ?"  
She couldn't answer as she was feeling too sick to care and she just let herself fall into the grass, panting heavily. Her bondmate was getting worried and tugged at the bond to get a reaction. Her coworker just manhandled her leg and retrieved what looked like a really rusty metal bracelet.  
"You didn't have it before. How did it get there ?"  
The metal bracelet ? She got that from the wraith ? Strange... She was too tired to care.  
"Hold on, Thunder ! I will take off your saddle and you will shift back to your two-legged form. Then, I will get help from Stock and we will get you back to Hobbiton safely, alright ? Just hold on a little longer and shift."  
A weight was lifted from her equine back and she used the little energy she had left to take back her human appearance. Oh gods... She was never fighting a wraith by herself ever again !  
She didn't how long she stayed lying in the grass, shivering, but ponies and vaguely familiar voices were near and several blankets covered her before she heard hobbits shouting at each other while they were manhandling her and carrying her into a wooden cart.  
Those voices...  
"Chief ? Daggers ?" She tried. "Genius ?"  
They stopped shouting but she could feel them near and the cart moved, pulled by ponies.  
"Don't worry, Thunder : it's us. Old Siegfried saw us when we were going to depart for Brockenborings. He told us about a sort of water-ghost that tried to drown you two. We will deliver both of you safely into Hobbiton in no time !"  
Her tired mind went back to the bracelet. Siegfried had told her it was rusty... Metal would only rust in prolonged contact with water... She heard the hunters yell at each other more, then something about giant slugs and frogs. She shivered : she hated those frogs and slugs...  
Siegfried was talking to her but she couldn't understand what he was saying. She didn't know when but everything went black on the road.

"Little one !"  
This voice... She had heard it a long time ago.  
"Wake up, little one !"  
Who was this one with such a deep voice ? Was it her bondmate ?  
"You're going to be fine, little one. Just wake up."  
Alright, alright ! She could do it... Later.

"Stop shouting you dumbass !! You'll wake her up !  
-Really ? And who is shouting right now ?!  
-You little fucker..."  
Someone ran away from the room as Eileen fought to open her eyes and find out where she was : this was her room in the Post Office from Hobbiton ! Now, who was here ?  
"Eileen !! There she is !"  
Oh crap, the whole team of Hobbiton was here as well...  
"She is still alive ! And whole !"  
Yep, the whole team...  
"How are you feeling ?"  
She looked up at Samlad, who was wearing some fresh bandages on his arms, hands and a nasty cut on the left cheek.  
What had happened to him ?  
"Probably better than you." She croaked, her voice refusing to work properly. "What happened to you ?"  
He snorted :  
"Those goblins gave us some troubles in Dwaling but I think they have learnt the lesson this time. And you ? How did you manage to fight a wraith into the Brandywine River ? The fight nearly killed you, Eileen. You had a fever for three days and a bronchitis because of this dirty water. You're not going back on the road until I'm sure you are totally recovered. And then, only short missions until I'm sure you are fit enough to travel again.  
-Alright, Samlad. I'm sorry."  
She was still feeling nauseous and tired but way better than just after the fight. Her breathing was ragged and she wasn't going to disobey the old hobbit who stared at her :  
"I accept your apology. Siegfried told me about your research and how the wraith attacked you. It wasn't your fault. No one could guess there was such a creature in the Shire. Anyway, I sent the rusty bracelet to the Great Smials for study. Adelard thinks it might belong ot the Leafwalker clan. He is researching more to find out whose bracelet it is. All of the Leafwalkers had a specific bracelet and all of them are recorded in their family books. We will find out and maybe resolve your murder-mystery. Now, rest and let's wait if we get results soon or not.  
-How is Siegfried ?  
-He caught a bad cold due to the water but he is going to be fine. Like you, he is forbidden to go back on the road until he feels better. Now, I have to knock some sense into the new recruits. Don't get alarmed if you hear some shouting.  
-Alright. Good luck with the newbies. I'm going to take a nap.  
-Take a big nap and if Siegfried tries to sneak out, call me : I'll will bring him back to his room myself with my stick."  
She hoped the old hobbit wouldn't try such a feat because he would surely end the day with several bumps.  
A kestrel chirped at the windows and she thought she would have to write a new letter to Duillond as soon as she would get news from Adelard. But for now, she had to rest and to get better.  
A bad cough shook her body and she heard an angry :  
"Die in silence for fuck's sake !  
-Fuck off, Philibert ! Go help me to scare off those recruits !  
-Yes, Sam'."  
Well, the young hobbits wanting to get integrated in their ranks were going to suffer... Eileen shrugged : it wasn't her problem right now. But as soon as she heard some shouts, running, and what seemed to be some staff-fighting, she felt some sympathy for them. Training was hard, for a job that was as difficult if not more, but those who did it never regretted their choice, and she was proud of being part of them.


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone. I'm so happy we passed the 2 000 hits on this story. And you know what ? I don't even know what you like in this story. ^^"

###### Chapter 16 :

_Dear Eileen,_

_Thank you for your letter. While I'm absolutly effared for the fact that you fought a wraith and nearly died destroying that filthy creature, I can say I am proud of you finding back Suidbert Leafwalker's ankle bracelet.  
I didn't know that every bracelet had a distinctive sign and thus were identified in a book in your library. This prooves that the Leafwalker Clan must have been more important than we thought.  
The simple fact that such a honorable hobbit might have turned into a wraith is shocking, but knowing that my kin can encounter similar experiences with what we call the Lingerers, I shouldn't be so surprised.  
Falael asked me to join some herbal remedies. He says it's for your lungs as it is not the first time you are having troubles with them. He mixed the herbs himself and he says he will know if you don't use them.  
You have to take them twice a day, at breakfast and dinner. One spoon per cup and one cup at a time. And now he tells me to stop writing everything he says._

Eileen wheezed and she coughed badly before calming down and continued to read.

_Ayden send his greetings and he is still recovering from the axe wound caused by his encounter with the dwarf. My brother thinks he will be able to walk properly in three days.  
I don't think you are aware but dwarvish axes can be really dangerous and some of them are enchanted to do more damages or for the wounds to not heal. Of course, elven healers can heal enchanted injuries but it takes more time and more efforts. So, next time you meet dwarves, please tread carefully.  
I've been told that some dwarven delegations have been travelling in and out the Blue Moutains lately. I don't know what is going on in their realm : our delegates stationned in Gondamon are not aware either. We just know that they are going to debate on something really important for their people, and that they do not want our input. As long at it doesn't harm us, my kin is fine with it, even if we still watch in case something happens.  
If their summoning could put an end to the Dourhands actions, it would do some great benefit, but sadly they seem happy with letting some dishonorable dwarves continue their burglary and piracy. Last week, the son of one of our delegates has nearly been kidnapped. Only the fast thinking of the guards has saved him. Duillond is now debating on the idea to post keep scouts near the Dourhands territory and to shoot any dwarf who would dare to come near our realm. A bit drastic, but the safety of our people is depending from this. We can't let them threaten us when we already have trouble with goblins and wolves.  
Please take care of yourself and take your time to recover before going back on the road. We prefer having a healthy mail deliverer visiting our town than a sickly one. I'm pretty sure your coworkers Samlad and Siegfried can tell you some tales about this. This falconer hobbit by far have always been Falael's worst patient. Is he still alive ? Him and his birds were menaces to our scouts and my brother._

The druidess gasped : Leufroy had some stories to tell ! She was so going to ask him...

_I hope you will write soon and hopefuly not about about a life threatening adventure._

_Farael of Duillond,_

_PS : A nicer bird next time would be great._

She grinned : it wasn't her fault if the birds willing to deliver her letters were mostly bad-tempered. The birds of prey in the Shire were mostly grumpy about everything and everyone. The ones is the Blue Mountains were mild-tempered, on the elven side, at least. She didn't know the dwarvish side as she had been advised to avoid it as much as possible. Maybe next time she could put the effort of finding a less grumpy bird...  
  
She sighed : she had been authorized to leave the bed but she was still forbidden to go back on delivering mail. Samlad had been warned by Siegfried about the shadow figure walking down the Brandywine River and feared that winter would be here sooner than later and they would soon have to change their usual rounds into the winter ones : the longer trips would be forbidden and Brockenborings would be only accessible by Overhill. The road from Budgeford to Scary would be closed for the coldest months as the cold and longer nights would made it no more safe for any traveler.  
  
The only problem was Needlehole, who was prettily isolated in normal times and even more during winter. The town's inhabitants weren't bothered at all by this, actually claiming they were tougher than that and they had actually some tradings with the Longbeard tribe of dwarves, so it was enough to keep the place safe as dwarves were stronger and working hard to protect the place that actually produced a big part of their most fresh food.  
Yeah... Dwarves weren't good at gardening and farming... But their smithing was told to be inegaled and they were good at guarding places. So Eileen guessed no race could be good in everything.  
  
She plucked her lute absently : Siegfried had decided that since they couldn't deliver the mail, they might use the free time to practice music. Samlad had said nothing, but had slapped the back of Philibert's head when the hobbit had been leaving some mocking comments on the quality of the music.  
That slap had sounded painful but as Siegfried had said to Eileen later : even disowned, a Sackville was still a Sackville, and they had to be reminded regulary to behave correctly.  
  
The druidess managed to talk to her brother a little more, having a recent adventure to share as a subject of discussion. Both of them had been surprised by Lobelia whose furious shrieks had alerted the whole town, until Blueberry, an elegant old hobbitess with a nastier temper than a grumpy Samlad, had made her shut up by throwing a full bucket of dirty water that was so smelly that everyone had scattered away without a second glancing.  
Eileen's bondmate had been shocked by the old hobbitess'action but very amused as well.  
  
Lesson of that day : never get Blueberry Whitfoot mad. She wasn't Samlad's twin sister for nothing.  
  
At least, Bilbo and Eileen were now able to see each other and to talk again without being bothered. The posthobbits had triep to step in but again, the hurricane-Blueberry had come down and teared his brother a new one. Since then, no one had tried to keep the druidess from his adoptive brother and vice versa.  
  
Getting close with Bilbo had been nice. They had talked a lot, apologized to each other a lot, and talked again. The young hobbit had taken his father business back in its tracks and was now respected as the local clerk, mostly working about contracts and other written deals. Eileen was actually impressed that he worked on negociating trade between the Shire and Bree.  
  
Trading with the men was actually a good thing as Bree was already a really important trade center in the area. The hobbits were mostly selling farming products and were mostly buying fabrics, some metal, papers and books, sometimes weapons.  
It took some time for the druidess to be declared fit enough to go back to travelling and she happily went on her mail deliveries, enjoying the still warm weather and the leaves slowly turning into reddish or golden colors. The summer had been great, the harvest had been plentiful and the younger hobbits were now starting to look for mushrooms into the woods.  
  
Eileen had gotten a few scares with some fauntlings wanting to eat some poisonous shrooms or some who had nothing better to do than disturbing wild beehives. Seriously ? BEEHIVES !!  
  
The druidess had never thought she would have been able to run that fast before jumping into a pond to avoid getting more stings.  
  
Took hobbits... At least they hadn't tried to ride some wild boars... ...  
A few days later, the Great Smials were feasting on the three wild boars that the druidess had to kill to protect the dozen fauntlings who thought it would have been fun to actually ride the beasts. She sighed : why were they always doing the most craziest things when she was delivering mail in their town... Were they doing it on purpose ?!  
Crazy hobbits...  
  
The male presence approved.  
  
Autumn brought rain and wind in his side and hobbits progressively started to go outside less and less, preparing for the winter. The deliverers were still on the road, sheltered by raincoats or hiding under trees when the rain was too strong if no town was close. The bounders were watching like usual, not seeming bothered by the weather. A little rain was not going to stop thieves and they still had a job to do.  
  
When winter arrived, the druidess was exhausted and happy to be able to stay indoors near the fire and the pillows. Winter was a season to rest in the Shire, and she totally approved this. The mail deliverers still had letters to bring from towns to anothers but the trips were less frequent and shorter and everyone welcomed this. Samlad got pissed at Philibert because the younger hobbit had found nothing better to do than mocking his earlier fear of another harsh winter as the one they were actually having seemed mild. As a result, the disowned Sackville got acquainted with the elder's beloved woodstaff and walked away with a severe headache. Siegfried, Eileen and the rest prefered to stay silent on the matter and to enjoy the quiet moment near the fireplace.  
  
At least the shadow figure didn't brought another Fell Winter in its wake.


	18. Drawing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since some people are asking when Eileen and Elrond are going to meet : here is a drawing to make you wait until they do in the story.
> 
> Yes : Elrond is having fun about her height.  
> And yes : Eileen is "threatening" him with a featherquill.


	19. Chapter 19

###### Chapter 17 :

"EILLEEENNNNN !!!"  
She jumped in fright while Samlad was yelling her name from the top of his lungs. What the hell ?! What had she done ?!  
"There are dwarves in the town !! They all went in your brother's home !!"  
Wait, what ?! Bilbo would never invite dwarves inside Bag End... It wasn't a thing to do in the Shire at least... and maybe not either in Duillond. But this wasn't the time to jump on conclusions without facts... She decided to leave her place near the fireplace where she had been practicing the lute and learning new songs with Siegfried.  
"They all went to Bag End ? At this hour ?  
-I saw them myself, Eileen. Dwarves ! Twelves of them in total and the grey wizard himself !"  
Now this was interesting.  
"Gandalf is back ? We haven't seen him since the Fell Winter.  
-Well, he is here, now, and he is the one who brought the dwarves. I were you, I would check on your brother : who knows what they would do to him ?"  
Eileen sighed : so much for a nice evening...  
"Alright, I will check on Bilbo. And if those dwarves are a danger to my brother, I will dispatch them myself.  
-That's the least you can do."  
She nodded and left the Post Office, shifting to her centaur form for safety. So, dwarves in Hobbiton, at nearly midnight. It wasn't like everyone should be sleeping at this hour... Her mate was sleeping at least if she could trust the lack of response through the bond. Good. He wouldn't judge if she decided to go nuclear on the dwarves if her little brother was harmed.  
She walked toward north. Bag End was just outside Hobbiton, higher on the hills. It gave the best view over the town. Something moved in the corner of her eyes and she turned around, suspicious.  
Hobbiton was usually safe, but we never could be too prudent. If twelves dwarves walked to Bag End, how could she be sure that there was not more around ? What were their intentions ?  
She stayed still for a few minutes, looking around for any intruder. Whatever had been moving was either gone or hiding. If it wanted to attack, it would have done it sooner...  
She huffed and resumed her walk toward her brother's smial.  
The first thing that alerted her was the noise.  
How could people make such a ruckus ?!  
Smials were underground, and that was giving them the best thermal and phonic isolation. But to manage to get heard from inside the smial with closed windows by people standing at the entrance of the surrounding garden... What was something ! Were people shouting inside ? Were they fighting ? Was her brother even still alive ?!  
She tapped one front hoof on the ground and stilled again : a figure was standing in front of the door ! And from the size... Too small to be the Grey Wizard, too tall to be a hobbit. This had to be a dwarf. Alright, time to buff up a bit and prepare the weapons.  
...  
The only she had thought to take with her was her lute.  
If she spelled it to be more solid, would it be a good weapon ? She could always smash it on the dwarf's skull...  
She got an unimpressed feeling from the male presence. Did she wake him up ?  
...  
Apparently not. Even sleeping, her mate could still access to the bond. Interesting.  
So... He wasn't convinced about using the luth, then ? She was going to show him.  
On the first menacing dwarf she would find.

And that's how she found herself standing in front of the opened door, in front of a very surprised Bilbo in a dressing gown, and towering over a groaning half-knocked out dwarf, with twelve others from indoors watching the scene with shock.  
And the lute was not broken. She would have to use more strenght next time...  
"Good evening, little bro'." She greeted as if it was totally normal for her to smash a luth on a dwarf's head in front of other people's homes. "I've been told that you might be having trouble with dwarves and they send me to help.  
-Good evening, sis'. Well, I think you knocked out the last one we were waiting for. Gandalf wants to take me on an adventure and they were waiting for him to explain the whole thing.  
-Really ? Is Gandalf here as well ?  
-Yes, but I think he would like to not get introduced to your lute.  
-A shame, I think he and my lute need to have a word...  
-I don't think this will be necessary, young lady." Spoke the grey Wizard marching forward. "Now, if you could stop beating the king at your hooves, I'm certain you will have a full explanation inside."  
Eileen huffed, more wanting to give another hit to the still moving dwarf but Bilbo stopped with a low "Please, sister. Let's hear them before you do something drastic."  
She sighed :  
"Fine : let's hear their request."  
She regretted her words as soon as she entered the place : what the hell had happened here ?! A tornado ?  
"The dwarves did it." Chimed Bilbo. "But... It's not that bad...  
-Bilbo, you are litteraly a control freak concerning cleaniless and this... is not fine by your standards. Even by mine, it's not fine at all."  
He made a strange face as some of those strange dwarves were looking warily at Eileen and her four hooves.  
"So... Do I get an introduction or do I have to guess everyone's name ? I prefer to warn you that my way at getting people's name can be a bit hurtful, but not for me."  
She smirked as everyone started to introduce themselves. It was actually strange to have a bunch of dwarves – dwarrow she later learned by an old one called Balin- talk and act in a nearly civilized manner. She was more used to the surprise attacks in the Rushock Bog and to learn that they were not all brutes was actually refreshing, for once. And the one with the weird hat -Bofur- was actually a musician ! The bowl-cut one -Ori- was acting like a scribe, holding a heavy leather book in his hands. An older one with strangely complex braid -Dori- was behaving like a mother hen with the scribe, perhaps a family member... The big brute -Dwalin- was more grunting than actually talking and he was always glancing at the one with star-shaped hair, called Nori.  
...  
How hell did he manage to braid his eyebrows ?!  
Eileen had thought she had seen those weird things but it seemed she still had a lot more to see...  
The worried glance from her brother and the amused look from the wizard were only confirming it.  
Now that the so-called king -Thorin- was nursing his headache, helped by an elder called Oin who seemed to be a healer, everyone was seated around the dining table and waiting for the news to drop. The druidess was with them, sitting next to Bilbo and was actually impressed, but not in the good way.

So basically, Gandalf, grey wizard and peace-breaker of the Shire, wanted to lead this company of thirteen dwarves to reclaim a mountain from a dragon.  
Great... This was the worst idea she had heard, and she had heard and witnessed some really bad ideas during her travels due to work !  
And his brother fainted... No thank to you Bofur !! Seriously ?! Terrorizing her brother by describing all the ways a dragon could kill you ?! She pinched the bridge of her nose and took a deep breath. This was a bad idea.  
How could Gandalf, someone supposed to be wise, lead people on a suicidal quest ?!  
When Bilbo went back to himself, he was in his bedroom, with his sister laying down next to the door and plucking her lute, hooves secured under her horse body and her bust holding straight.  
"Tell me you didn't kill them.  
-I didn't. They are scattered in the Smial to spend the night. I had to ward your cutlery so one of them would stop stealing them.  
-Wait, what ? Are you serious ? My grandmother spoons ?  
-Still here. He won't be able to touch them without getting an electric shock. I wanted to put something more harmful but I feared you wouldn't agree.  
-Oh... Then thank you for thinking about me. Hem... Are they singing ?  
-It seems they are. Are you going to take part of this adventure ? It's suicidal."  
Bilbo listened to the deep voices singing from his living room. The song was about their mountain and the dragon. It was moving and sad. He had Bag End, his home and his family.  
Those dwarves didn't have a home... It had been taken by the dragon...  
"Eileen ?  
-Yes ?  
-If I decided to sign the contract and come with them...Would you stop me ?  
-Well... My job as the big sister is to keep you safe... But you are a Took as well as a Baggins. Grandpa Gerontius would only approve of you going on an adventure. I guess I would have to follow and keep your sorry ass from harm. Why ?  
-I want to help them. Even if I am just a hobbit. Even if I look like a grocer for them. I want to help them to get their home back."  
Eileen sighed :  
"I guess I will have to follow then..."  
Eileen was gone in the early hours of the morning, leaving everyone sleeping in the Smial. Even with her hooves, she hadn't been able to cover the snores coming from the dwarrow, and that alone proved how noisy they were.  
When Bilbo woke up, the smial was actually empty and he sweared loudly under his breath. Where was everyone ? He knew his sister was at the Post, but the dwarves... He saw the contract waiting on the table, took a deep breath and grabbed a quill.

"What do they teach to fauntlings, these days ?!" Sweared Samlad, paccing in the office. "You never sign a dwarven contract ! It's full of loopholes and they WILL use it against you as soon as they can !  
-Really ? Asked the druidess. "They can do that ?  
-Dwarves are greedy, Eileen. If they can get richer by getting rid of you, contract or not, they will get rid of you. If you don't cooperate, you will be a contract-breaker, but if they don't respect their own part, it's fine as they are dwarves and there must be an article in the contract that says it's their right to do this. He should have talked to us before doing anything ! Now he is stuck with thirteen dwarves and one wizard !! They are going to kill him on the way... Eileen ! Your mission...  
-What do I have to do, Samlad ?  
-Your mission is to accompany Bilbo, to deliver your brother safely to their thrice-damned mountain AND to bring him back alive. I don't care if he loose a leg or else, but he needs to come back in the Shire alive ! And you have to come back as well, alive and preferably whole. We can't afford to loose both of you. Can you do this as a mail deliverer of Hobbiton, Thunderbolt ?  
-I will do my best, Elder Painkiller. I will bring my brother to the Lonely Mountain, and back to Hobbiton alive. If I don't survive the path, then I will choose someone I feel worthy to carry on my mission.  
-Let's hope you don't have to go this far... May the road be peaceful and fast. Now run and catch your brother back. We will make sure that Bagend stays safe.  
-I added a few wards in the smial. If the Sackville-Bagginses try something, they won't like the result.  
-They won't like it but I'm sure we will love to see it.  
-Eileen !!" Called Bilbo's voice from the outside. "The dwarves are gone ! We need to catch them up !  
-Well... I guess I have to go.  
-Yes you have. Do you have everything you need ? Bow ? Arrows ? Daggers ? Clothes ? Raincoat ? Lute ? Snacks for the road ? Blankets and rolling mat ? Paper, ink and quills to write ? Cleaning supplies ? Hoofpick and brushes ?"  
She nodded at everything as she was used to prepare her travelling pack for years. Satisfied, Samlad declared her ready for her task and asked for weekly reports, so the post hobbits would be able to keep track of her during the whole trip. The old hobbit clapped her saddle and shooed her out of the office where she met her brother, looking quite disheveled.  
"Rough morning, Bilbo ?  
-They are gone !  
-We can find them easily. Did you prepare yous pack ? Nothing forgotten ? This is going to be a really long trip, Bilbo. We don't even know how long it will take.  
-I think I have everything.  
-Well, then hop on my saddle and we will find those wayward dwarves and this blasted grey wizard."  
The hobbit didn't hesitated and grabbed the saddle before jumping on it. He hadn't ridden since the Fell Winter and it was strange for him to do it again.  
"Mr Baggins ! Mr. Baggins !" Called Hamfast Gamgee from his garden. "What are you doing ?  
-I'm going on an adventure, Hamfast !" Replied Bilbo, himself still surprised by his own decision. "Take good care of Bag End during my leave.  
-An adventure ? Where are you going ? And why is Eileen going with you ?  
-We are going to Erebor ! Let's go sister ! Before Lobelia sees us !  
-Don't worry, if she approaches your smial, she will not like the result.  
-You warded the place again ?!  
-Of course I did.  
-By Yavanna... Are the spells less harmful than last time ?  
-I don't know what you are talking about.  
-Last time, Lobelia was screaming that her blood was burning like acid every time she approached Bag End.  
-Well, this time she will feel like her blood will boil. Is it better ?  
-Hem... Well, at least she will stay away, but what about her husband ?  
-I didn't forget him, don't worry. The whole clan has not been forgotten."  
She started trotting : the dwarves should have left at dawn, they should not be that far from Hobbiton. And since they were going to the East, the main road was the most logical place to find them. Flicking her long horsetail, she saluted the mail deliverer watching them leave from the office, with the promise to come back, and to write.  
Surprisingly, they found the company just at the exit of Hobbiton, all of them riding ponies except Gandalf who was on a tall horse.  
"Wait !!" Called Bilbo. "I signed the contract ! Here it is !  
-Why is the horse-lady coming ?" Grumbled Thorin, eyeing the lute warily. "She hasn't signed anything.  
-We are a package deal."Smirked Eileen. "Either you take both of us, or you have nothing. And druids are not interested in riches. My job is to make sure that my brother will come back home safely."  
Gandalf chuckled :  
"If this cans reassure you, Thorin, consider the druid here in my employment, so no other contract will need to be signed. Now if we could start our journey and not get on the wrong road this time...  
-Wait." Stopped Bilbo still gripping the saddle. "Are you telling me that you managed to get lost in Hobbiton ? It only has two roads."  
Thorin grumbled while Balin chuckled and decided to take the lead just to be sure they would be on the right path this time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Elrond (through the bond, even knowing she can't hear him yet) : "Listen, little one. Dwarves are known for being short-tempered and are not afraid of starting a fight. Tread carefully with them. Use diplomacy."  
> Eileen (smashes lute on Thorin's head) : "LEAVE MY BROTHER ALONE, YA MOUNTAIN OAF !"  
> Elrond (facepalms) : "For Eru's sake..."


	20. Chapter 20

###### Chapter 18 :

It was only after two long hours of turning around on the road that Balin decided to take the lead and to finally get them set in the right direction. Bilbo was glaring at his sister who was snickering about Thorin's disastrous sense of direction. The dwarf had been leading them toward Stock at first, then managed to go forward Bywater only to return to Hobbiton, to the point that Eileen had been starting to wonder if we would be leaving the Shire by the end of the week.  
And no, she wasn't going to help about the direction : the elder dwarf seemed very capable, more than the so-called king at least...

Her bondmate was surprised that she was actually travelling with dwarves but she didn't take the time to give him all the reasons for her presence : Bilbo was going with them, so was she. Point. He didn't insist and she was quite grateful for that, having a bad feeling about his potential reaction if he learned why they were on the road.

Bilbo complained about having forgotten his handkerchief, only to have his sister telling him to check her saddlebags as she had at least one somewhere in. The other dwarves were quite giving them the cold shoulder, except the younger one called Ori who was curious about the Shire, the hobbits and the fact that Bilbo'sister was actually half-beast. He was even more confused about learning that Eileen was actually adopted as herself and the hobbit chose to keep secret the fact that she could keep a fully human appearance with only the animal ears. She was safer on four hooves than on two feet around 13 male dwarves and his brother wasn't going to disagree on this point : himself was safer on her back than on a pony. The pony would not be able to shoot arrows or to throw a dagger at an attacking opponent, or to hex people. Yeah, he was safer here...

They managed to pass Frogmorton at sundown and Thorin decided they would camp in the wild. Bilbo winced internally as he hadn't slept outside for a long time, then he remembered that camping was part of his sister's job and she never complained. How could she do this regulary ? And he was so sore from having ridden the whole day !  
"Stretch a bit." Spoke Eileen, making him look up to her.  
"Excuse me, what ?  
-I said that you should stretch a bit or you won't be able to walk tomorrow.  
-Wait, how I stretch ?  
-Your legs. I can't show you but... Here, look what Ori and Dori are doing : that's stretching. Do the same thing. I will find some firewood.  
-But Bofur is already gone to gather some.  
-Well, more firewood then... Hat-dwarf is gone toward the bog surrounding Frogmorton. He won't find much dry wood in this area.  
-Alright, come back quickly.  
-No problem, stay with Gandalf if the dwarves bother you while I'm not here."  
He nodded and she walked away, her long tail flicking ans she disappeared between the trees. Finding fallen branches was quite easy as those woods were often visited by lumberjacks. She wondered if Bofur was alright : the creatures living in Frogmorton were creepy and the giant slugs could be dangerous for those who weren't used to deal with them. They were dangerous as well for seasoned mail deliverers and bounders... She just hoped he was fine : it would be a shame to loose one dwarf on the first day.

When she estimated having found enough wood, she walked back to the camp only to be stopped by the star-shaped hair dwarf.  
"Is something the matter ?" She asked coldly, as he was glaring at her.  
-Why are you here with us ?  
-I told you. I protect my little brother. As long as you don't endanger him, I have no qualm with you.  
-Then why didn't you help Thorin this morning with the directions ?  
-It was too amusing to watch. I never thought it was possible to get lost on a simple road with actually road signs. At least the old one is better at reading maps.  
-So, you're not here for the treasures ?  
-I sincerely don't give a shit about treasures. Now, can I bring the wood or do I have to stomp on your foot to pass ?  
-You wouldn't.  
-Wanna bet ?"  
He eyed her hooves and reluctantly stepped away so she could resume her walk and put the wood into the chosen place for the firecamp.

The fire was bright and Bombur was busy preparing dinner when Bofur finally came back with wood and tales about the biggest frogs and toads he had ever seen in his life. Eileen felt sympathy for him as those beasts were always creeping her out. Bilbo was busy trying to get rid of the two brothers who were Fili and Kili.  
Those young dwarves seemed to have decided that bothering the hobbit was a good idea and they were doing it quite successfully. After they finally decided to leave him alone so they could get a bowl of stew, Bilbo let himself fall next to her sister and sighed deeply :  
"Those twos are going to drive me crazy before leaving the Shire... Remember me why did I sign the contract ?  
-Because you want to help the dwarves ?  
-Yeah...  
-And I think you were actually waiting for something epic to start adventuring. You could have started smaller you know ? A long travel with no certain date of return is quite a lot for a first adventure.  
-I have to admit I've not done things by half by signing this contract... How is the stew ?  
-A bit too fat for my stomach but I will survive : I've got herbs to help with the nausea. Dwarves don't seem to have a lot of vegetables and fruits in their diet.  
-True... They litteraly emptied my pantry but the vegetables were left intact.  
-Really ? Do they know that vegetables are important as well for a balanced diet ?  
-I don't think they do. We will have to find our own fruits and vegetables for eating.  
-I have some dried fruits and nuts in by bags, but if we want fresh things, we would have to search for it. I don't have a fishing rod in my packs. Do you think I should buy one in Stock ?  
-I doubt dwarves eat fish.  
-I don't care if they don't but you and I do eat some fish.  
-Fishing is not a bad idea actually. And we can find edible plants to add to our meals.  
-Of course. Did you take the book about plants from Belladonna ? It was really helpful during our first camping trips in the hills.  
-I have it. Couldn't leave without this book? Imagine if we take a poisonous plant or shroom for an edible one..."  
They shuddered : poisonous plants were not a joke and they had to be really careful with it. Eileen more than Bilbo as hobbits were naturally more resistant to toxic plants and mushrooms.  
They chatted a bit longer until Thorin declared it was time to sleep as they would have leave at dawn the next day.  
Gandalf didn't move from his spot under the nearest tree, strangely silent and unmoving. Dwalin grumbled as he took the first watch and Eileen managed to find a place where she could put the bedrolls and lie on it with her legs tucked under her body. Her brother decided to sleep with her and leaned against her equine ribs. Fili and Kili were eyeing them but only a warning glare from the druidess actually kept them from coming closer : she wasn't a pillow, for fuck's sake ! The rest of the dwarves were strangely huddled with each other. This was quite weird to watch for Bilbo but Eileen shrugged and told him that it was quite common to sleep like this in the wild, as a way to keep warmth and to protect each other. Not so convinced, he decided to call it a night and made sure his blanket was covering him totally.

The night was sadly short for both of them as the dwarves snored again and it was impossible to sleep with such noise.  
As a result, both were quite grouchy the next morning and it resulted with Fili being pushed into the nearest woodfence by the druidess as he was trying to harass the hobbit further. Kili tried to help his brother, only to end with a hoof on his boot and a centauress heavily leaning on it. Thorin's boots were partly made of metal, but most of the others had boots made of leather that Eileen could easily stomp. And she did with no second thought.  
Then Bilbo stopped her, frowning as he was watching Thorin taking the lead again :  
"Is he... going back to Bywater ?"  
Eileen smirked :  
"Yep. Do you think we will manage to pass Bree before the end of the month ?  
-I'm... not sure. Can you call them ? You have more voice than me.  
-Alright, bro. YO, THORIN !! STOCK IS THE OTHER WAY !! YOU'RE GOING BACK TO HOBBITON !!"  
The dwarf king sweared in kuzdul and gestued the rest of the company to turn around and to resume riding, this time in the right direction.  
"I think I will never get tired of this..." Snickered Eileen as Gandalf was smiling knowingly. "And I'm not the only one."

It took them the whole day to arrive to Stock. The druidess was actually a bit bored, too used to go as fast as possible under a centaur appearance. Bilbo was happy with the pace, looking around and somrtime stopping her so they could pick some plants who were edible. The younger dwarves made a strange face when they learned that some of those were actually edible and not only as medecine. Eating greens wasn't apparently a dwarf thing to do...  
This time, they spent the night at the tavern and the two Shire residents decided to enjoy the evening as some local young minstrels were present to entertain the patrons and to work on their practice as well. They also had the occasion to see how much beer a dwarrow could actually drink and they came to the conclusion to NEVER try to outdrink them.  
"Seriously, if I just drank the half of what Dwalin took, I would be dead." Commented Bilbo.  
His sister nodded, knowing she would be in the same state.

The next morning, they went to the local grocer to find some fruits and vegetables while the dwarrow was busy getting ready and preparing their ponies. Eileen happily found a fishing rod and a small set of cooking knives, while Bilbo decided to add another small pot and a new frying pan so they would be able to cook by themselves if needed.  
A travelling hobbit should always have cooking material and supplies, and he intended to follow that rule.  
After another "THORIN !! WRONG PATH !!", Balin decided to take the lead until further notice and they crossed the long and sturdy stone bridge stepping over the Brandywine River. They passed Buckland, Bilbo and Eileen saluted the local shirrif and bounders watching the roads and the small town. They were leaving the Shire, their journey was now officially started !  
"Do you think we will see some monsters on the way ?" Wondered Eileen. "We are going along the Old Forest after all.  
-What's so special about the Old Forest ?" Pipped Ori already holding his book open so he could write. "Why are you talking about monsters from this forest ?  
-Well, the Old Forest is notorious in the Shire for its relatively bad temper. The trees are said to be able to move on their own, the forest change and you can loose the path in a matter on minutes. A long time ago, they attacked Buckland and the only way to stop the disaster had been to call all the bounders and shirrif availables so they could chop down the agressives trees and make a huge bondfire to scare them off. Since then, the moving trees are keeping their distances with Buckland but sometimes there is still one who tries and lashes out on the oblivious fauntling or gentlehobbit walking near to pick some mushrooms. This is why we must always be wary on the Old Forest and never go far under the tree leaves."  
Poor Ori looked frightened. Dori and Nori scowled at the druidess who flicked her long horse tail in response, not caring about them : the younger dwarf had wanted to know and now he knew what was so special about the Forest. This place was told to be quite cursed after all since it was borded by the Barrow-Downs.  
"Should I tell him about the Barrow-Downs ?" She whispered to Bilbo who hissed back immediatly :  
"No ! Or wait until we are near, and at night.  
-Alright. Until nightfall then..."  
The male presence chuckled through the bond as he was apparently enjoying as well the frightening tales concerning the area. He chuckled even more when the young dwarf yelped when a branch cracked and fell from a tree nearby.  
This journey promised to be interesting indeed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is Eileen enjoying scaring the younger dwarves ? Yes.  
> Is Bilbo encouraging her ? Yes.  
> Is Elrond sipping some tea and enjoying the scene ? Totally.


	21. Chapter 21

###### Chapter 19 :

The path was relatively quiet, the wild animals having fled as soon as they had heard the dwarves arriving and it looked like Bombur was really interested into the fact that preys were abondant in this area. Bilbo told him that hobbits didn't need to hunt that much since farming was mostly enough. Hunting was more a pleasure to bring some change to the menu sometimes than a necessity, or to protect people from the wild animals as some, like boars and bears and sometimes deers, could be dangerous.  
Bilbo was surprised to learn that dwarves didn't grow their own food or their own cattle. They simply hunted. The only animals thay were taking care were wargoats (pony-sized mountain goats that could be ridden) and ponies for traveling. Gardening wasn't a dwarf-thing to do.

Eileen thought that explained the trade with Needlehole, but it didn't tell her why there was always dwarvish thieves hiding in the Rushock Bog... One of them had stolen a cow from a inhabitant of the small town last month and the hobbits had asked the druidess to search the bog as she was tall enough to see over the tall wild grass and nasty enough to beat up any dwarf coming near.  
She had found a troll statue in the southern part (she would never admit that it had scared her as she had thought it was a live thing at first), but no cow, well, not alive and whole... The beast had been killed further away and cut into pieces, certainly brought to the northern part of the bog where the Dourhands were hiding. At least the brave hobbit had gotten the leather collar with the bell back...

Thorin ordered everyone to stop and make camp. Eileen looked around and made a face : they were near at the jonction between the Old Forest and the Barrow-Downs. One of the worse places to camp.  
She paced around, muttering about stupid dwarves and Bilbo tried to calm her by proposing her to gather some wood near. She flatly refused and kept watch over the darker forest on the other side of the road.  
At least they were on the safer side !  
Sleeping there could be risky as you never knew what could crawl out the Barrow-Downs. Siegfried and the bounders of Buckland had told her some scary things about what could hide in this cursed place. Bofur and Bifur went away to find wood and Bombur started preparing his cauldron to start another stew. The hobbit sighed at the idea of another not so tasteful dinner and asked Eileen if she could help him to prepare a small fire near and to prepare some proper hobbit dinner. The druidess looked around one last time before taking her bow and leaving into the tree on the safe side.  
She walked back half an hour later, with two freshly killed rabbits and some branches to start a fire. Her brother placed some small stones to form a circle and put the wood at the center before starting the fire. Meanwhile, Eileen skinned and gutted the rabbits and asked how he wanted to prepare them. Bilbo smirked and answered that they were going to make themselves a proper stew, with vegetables inside as well as meat.  
Thorin's glare would have scared the hobbit if he had been alone but since his sister was here, he knew that none of the dwarrow would actually try something, not when the lute was near as it had been proved as being quite a weapon. Gandalf invited himself to the hobbit firecamp to share the food.  
The younger dwarves were looking with interest, until they saw the vegetables being put into the smaller pot. They made some disgusted faces and went back to Bombur and his only-meat-and-water stew.

When dinner was finished, Eileen took her lute and started plucking at the strings, as if she was trying to find something to play but not sure about what to choose.  
"Oy ! Boggins'sister !" Called Kili, grinning. "Is there monsters as well here ?"  
Eileen grinned darkly and Gandalf chuckled while lighting his pipe.  
"You have no idea of what can crawl in this area, young heir."  
She grabbed her lute and plucked the cords to check if they were all tuned and hummed in satisfaction when they all sounded right.  
"Come on !" Insisted Kili as Fili was grinning. "You can't just tell me that and say nothing else. I bet you don't even know what's in there.  
-Oh I can easily tell you what is hiding in the Barrow-Downs, young heir. We have some stories in the Shire with those monsters, even some songs.  
-You even have songs ? Now I want one ! Come on !  
-Alright, do you know the legend of the Headless Horseman ?  
-The what ?" Squeacked Ori, holding his book open and gripping his quill in fear. "Headless ?  
-Headless Horseman." Repeated Eileen, placing her lute rightly so she would be able to play while talking and walking around in her centaur form. "He is the monster haunting the fields during the night of Samhain.  
-When is that ?" Asked Ori, frowning. "We don't have this day in our calendar.  
-It's the 10th day of Blotmath, this month is also called Blooting by the people of Bree. It's the last day of autunm, the harvest is done and winter is slowly but surely coming to take the land.  
-Oh."  
Ori wrote furiously in his book, while Nori sighed and Dori looked proudly at the younger dwarf. Bofur decided to speack up :  
"And the song, where is it ?"  
Gandald chuckled :  
"It seems you can't escape it, young Thunderbolt.  
-No problem, grey wizard. But I could use your tricks to settle the ambiance.  
-They are more than tricks, but I will help for tonight.  
-Thank you, old man."  
She started playing on her lute and the younger dwarves cheered : finally some entertainment !

_Now gather 'round  
While I elucidate  
On what happens outside when it gets late  
’Long about midnight  
The ghosts and banshees  
Get together for their nightly jamborees_

_There's ghosts with horns and saucer eyes  
And some with fangs about this size  
Some short and fat  
Some tall and thin  
Some don't even bother to wear their skin!_

_Well I'm tellin' you, brother  
It's a frightful sight  
To see what goes on in the night!_

_When the ghosts have a midnight jamboree  
They break it up with fiendish glee  
Spooks are bad, but the one that's cursed  
Is the Headless Horseman: He's the worst_

_When that he goes a-joggin' across the land  
Holdin' a noggin in his hand  
The demons take one look and groan  
And hit the road for parts unknown_

_And there's no wraith like a spook that's spurned  
They don't like him and he's really burned!  
He swears to the longest day he's dead_

_That he'll show them that he can get a head!_

_The Headless Horseman needs a head!  
The Headless Horseman needs a head!_

_So close all the windows  
Lock the doors  
Unless you're careful, he'll get yours  
Don't think he'll hesitate a bit  
’Cause he'll clip your top if it'll fit_

_And he likes them little, likes them big  
Part in the middle or a wig  
Black or white or even red  
The Headless Horseman needs a head!_

_The Headless Horseman needs a head!  
The Headless Horseman needs a head!_

_It's after midnight, so listen good!  
Better stay at home, like you should  
'Cause right outside, and waitin' there_

_Is the Headless Horseman!!_

_Beware!_

_With a hip-hip and a clippity-clop  
He's out lookin' for a top to chop  
So don't stop to figure out a plan  
You can't reason with a headless man!_

The younger dwarves yelped when they heard fast galoping sounds near them with the sound of an unsheating sword, then saw Gandalf smirking and understood that the old wizard had pranked them.  
Bofur laughed loudly and took his flute out, ready to amuse the company a bit more. Ori looked terrified while Fili was clapping his brother's shoulder. Bilbo chuckled when his sister sat down next to him :  
"It looks like you made some friends."  
Eileen shrugged :  
"If we have to travel a long way with them, better have some on your side than the whole group against you. The youngers and the one with the weird hat are the nicest I can find in this whole... dwarrow. Thorin and Dwalin are definitly not nice. I don't know about the others, I still need to make my opinion on them.  
-Thorin had said nothing to me since we departed.  
-It's because he is cautious about me and my lute.  
-Oh... He doesn't respect me at all ?  
-He doesn't. And he doesn't respect me either. He just fears the lute.  
-Well, that's incouraging... Why did I sign the contract, again ?  
-Are you going to ask me that every evening ?  
-I might.  
-Alright, you signed it because you are too good for this world and you decided to help this bunch of dwarves. Happy now ?  
-Really. Do you think we will be able to sleep this time ?  
-Not sure. Maybe we will get used to the noise as the journey goes on.  
-I hope.  
-Me too."  
Again, they didn't sleep much that night but at least the music was not that bad with Bofur playing. The songs were a bit crude but the druidess wasn't even phased : most of the songs sung on the road by the hunters, bounders and mail-deliverers were often the crudest you could find. The more polite being reserved for the quiet evenings in the taverns, in the post offices, or around the firecamps in the wild.  
Only Thorin looked really annoyed but since it seemed to be his normal look, Bilbo nor his sister decided to pay attention to the broody dwarf.

Thankfully, no shadow nor strange creature from the Barrow-Downs tried to approach the camp. It seemed like the mere presence of the grey wizard was enough to keep them at bay. No one complained about that. Just some strange howls could be heard from time to time and stranger screechs that startled the young Ori everytime they broke the silence.  
Eileen felt her mate trying to nudge her by tugging on the bound. She sighed and looked up to see the poor terrified dwarf sitting in the in the middle of sleeping mass of snoring dwarrow. She looked at Bilbo : he was soundly sleeping against her equine ribs. He looked like she had no choice...  
"Ori." She called lowly enough to not wake the Company. "Come here."  
She patted the unoccupied side of her ribs and he nearly ran to her before settling against her. She made a face when he flopped against her side but said nothing. The male presence seemed to approve but nudged further. She sighed internally : she was already busy with just being a big sister to Bilbo, should she add dwarves as well ?  
...  
It felt like a yes.  
So... Big sister, alright ?  
"Alright, Ori. Tell me who is scaring you and I will hunt it down and bring back its sore ass."  
He looked more frightened. Shit ! It didn't work.  
"It's just that I'm not used to sleep outside..." He mumbled behind his large leather book. "I've never left the mountain before. This is all new to me."  
Alright, she could understand that.  
"Well, Bilbo here had never left the Shire before as well, and I never went to Bree and further. This is all new for all of us. And you have your brothers to protect you if something goes wrong. So you're not alone in this whole adventure.  
-I know, but this is scary...  
-Well, I don't know about the others, but this journey looks scary even to me.  
-How can you be scared ? You knocked Thorin with your lute ! No one is brave enough to do that.  
-I did it because I thought Bilbo was in danger. Bravery is not about not feeling fear, it's about overcoming your fear. The most brave are always scared, but they fight their own fear and get stronger by doing this.  
-I've never had to do this before, fighting my own fears. How do I do it ?  
-Well... Let's say that next time something scares you. You come to me and we will check the scary thing and see if this is that scary or not. Does this sound good ?  
-Hem... Yes it does.  
-Good, now try to sleep before Thorin decides to yell at us."  
He settled against her flank and she sighed : it seemed she had two people now to look after... Her bondmate sent an approving feeling through the bond. She still wasn't happy with this : it wasn't her job to look after dwarves who already had brothers, and she hoped she would not have more during the journey.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The song is "The headless horseman" and since the Barrow-Downs are near, I felt it would fit.  
> And yes, Eileen must work on the "big sister" role a little more as it needs some improvment.


	22. Chapter 22

###### Chapter 20 :

_"Ho ro, the rattlin' bog, and the bog down in the valley-O  
Rare bog, and a rattlin' bog, and the bog down in the valley-O..."_

Bilbo couldn't hold his laugh any longer : Eileen and Bofur were trying to get the whole song of "the Rattlin' Bog" without any error in the words and it was surprising to find out that dwarves of the Blue Mountains and the hobbits of the Shire actually had some songs in common.  
The younger dwarves were having fun by trying to follow the whole song. Nori rolled his eyes as Dori was actually doing his best to not appear too happy that his young Ori was actually enjoying himself without including a book. Bombur had tried at first but got lost halfway to the song. Bifur didn't sing but was at least participating by clapping his hands. Gandalf smiled since the beginning of the day and the hobbit wondered if it had something to do with the fact that Dwalin had strangely fell into a very big puddle of mud after having loudly doubted the sheer utility of Bilbo'presence in the group. The wizard and the hobbit were totally aware of who had caused the fall of Dwalin into the mud : the druidess had managed to make the heavy dwarf trip by "accidentaly" putting her left hindleg just in front of his feet while he had been walking near.  
Since then, it looked like Fili and Kili had decided that Bilbo's strange sister was worthy of being an ally for their next pranks, on at least a worthy opponent. Bilbo wasn't left behind : he had always been actually the one helping with prank-planning when they were younger. So, if he could inadvertly show the young Durin heirs which plant could make the best itching powder, he did, and feigned ignorance when Dwalin was found scratching himself furiously after giving a harsh training session to the two brothers.  


Only Thorin looked like he was ready to murder everyone in the immediate area if they continued their shenanigans. They didn't care : it was his usual face. Only Balin seemed to be able to "translate" his king's emotions but it was mostly "stop messing around and let's go faster because I want to reclaim Erebor as fast as possible."  


Arriving near Bree had taken them two days since their night near the Barrow-Downs. Certainly tired from everyone's shenanigans, Thorin ordered everyone to get around Bree and to wait for him at the South Entrance so he and a few chosen would go into the shops to get more material and rations for the trip to the Lone Lands. Bilbo refused to come as Eileen couldn't come with him due to her hooves and how would the men react to her presence. So, the hobbit made a list of dried fruits and vegetables to get and gave it to Ori. Eileen added a few coins for Ori to buy some paper to write letters, and he could buy himself something as well if he wanted.  
Nori was grumbling as Dwalin had forbidden him to come as well since "a thief's place wasn't in a town full of shops and markets". Nevermind, he waited until the tall dwarf was out of sight before telling the remaining members of the Company to wait for him at the South entrance.  
So, Bilbo, Bofur, Bifur, Fili, Kili, Gloin, Oin, Dori and Eileen were walking along the stone walls of the big town. It took them the whole day to arrive to the South entrance. The druidess spotted a nice fishing spot and decided to catch some fish. Fili and Kili decided to hunt and Dori was busy checking the contents of his pack. When night fell, the others were not back and Eileen was happy to have caught two trouts. The young brothers walked back to the improvised camp with a roe deer. They were really proud of their catch and the adults congratulated them.  


Soon, a problem arose : Bombur was in Bree, and he was the one with the dwarvish cooking gear and whatnots. Bilbo saved the day by brandishing his own pot and frying pan as well as Eileen's travelling cooking gear as well.  
"Food is a really important part of hobbit's culture." He explained to them as his sister was busy skinning the roe and gutting it after having done the trouts. "A hobbit should never travel without cooking gear.  
-Dwarves don't travel without weapons and tools to do their craft." Spoke Bofur, busy sculpting a small piece of wood. "I suppose everyone has his own priority. Your sister over there is carrying weapons though.  
-Eileen is a mail-deliverer. This can be quite dangerous with thieves and wild beasts on the roads. The bounders and shirrifs have sadly too much work on their hands to protect the post workers so they have to defend theirselves.  
-That's where you're wrong, little brother." Smirked the druidess. "Mail deliverers have always known the dangers on the road and have always carried and used weapons. The more experienced a deliverer is, the more dangerous roads he or she can take. That's why I can go on the elvish side of the Blue Mountains or on the north part of the Shire. Althought I've never gone further than Dwaling. I've been told there was some interesting monsters on this part but sadly I've only found goblins.  
-You fought goblins ?!" Gasped Bilbo. "I wasn't aware of that ! We have goblins in the Shire ?!  
-Not exactly in the Shire, but they try. The blue Mountains have a big nest somewhere and the elves have trouble keeping it under control. Something about them breeding really fast... There is a nest of goblins as well in the northern part of the Shire, but shirrifs and rangers are on it. The mail deliverers are called to help only when it gets really bad and they need everyone to keep the goblins'population under control.  
-I didn't know that ! You never told me about that !  
-You never asked.  
-Why would I ask about goblins ? It's not something we concerne ourselves with.  
-Exactly. That's why we don't talk about goblins with other hobbits.  
-We have troubles with goblins as well, you know ?" Added Bofur. "In the Blue Mountains. They have a huge nest somewhere inside the abandonned mines but even us, dwarves, can't do something because it's too dangerous to go into those unused mines. We can't only deal with those coming to close to our homes.  
-How is the life in the Blue Mountains ?" Asked Bilbo while adding a few herbs on the fish. "We don't know much about dwarves in general, except that you smith and dig mines."  
Bifur grumbled something and Bofur laughed before answering :  
"We do much more than smithing and digging, Master Bilbo. Every dwarf has their own craft as well. Some make toys, some knit, some make jewelry. We can devote our entire life into mastering our craft. The craft is nearly more important than the work we have to do to survive."  
Bilbo nodded : it looked like dwarves were more than they looked like at first glance. Eileen was finally done with the skinning and gutting and let Gloin cut the animal in pieces so they could prepare some and make jerky from the rest.

Thorin, Gandalf and the others were still not back.  
"Did they get lost in Bree ?" Asked Eileen. "Is it possible to get lost in Bree ?  
-It has four main roads, one on the west side, two on the east side and one on the south side." Replied Nori, appearing from behind bushes and startling everyone. "Don't ask me what I did : the least you know, the better."  
No one tried to know : Nori was Nori, doing shaddy stuff was his thing apparently.  
The next morning, they were still not back.  
"They got lost."  
Eileen decided to go fishing again so they could have some smoked fish to eat for later. Kili tried to help but ended falling into the river while wanting to catch fish by shooting arrows at them. The idea itself wasn't that bad, but it would work better in more shallow waters...  
Eileen's mate chuckled through the bond, definitly amused by the young dwarves' antics.  
Fili was happy about the roe pelt what would be now used as blanket or maybe something else and everyone waited until they finally saw the grey pointed hat belonging to Gandalf.  
"Finally !" Cheered Bofur. "What took you so long ?"  
Gandalf smiled knowningly. Balin chuckled. Dori waved and ran to them, proud of having found everything that had been written on the list and some paper for Eileen writing her letters. He showed the druidess the small inkbottle he got with the remaining coins and was rewarded by her congratulating him. Dori looked curiously proud : something about his youngest brother finally growing up and gaining confidence. Dwaling grumbled. Thorin looked really angry and the others preferred to say nothing, until Fili and Kili showed them the roe pelt they had hunted themselves.  
They got no explanation about how hell did it took them two entire days to cross Bree but Gandalf's smirk was enough : they had gotten lost.  
Now that the Company was finally complete, it was too late to travel and the dwarf-king growled the whole evening about wasting time resting when they could be on the way to the Mountain.  
"He seems rather obsessed with his Mountain." Whispered Bilbo to Eileen. "I wonder what is so important inside, aside from the dragon of course..."  
The male presence reacted sharply through the bond and Eileen nearly winced from his reaction.  
"Are you alright, lass ?" Asked Bofur. "It looks like you are building some headache.  
-I'm fine, I'm fine. But yes, I admit that this obsession with the mountain is rather strange... Maybe it's a dwarf-thing ?  
-Maybe... I wonder if this hides something else.  
-The only way to know is to wait and see. But don't worry : if he tries something to you, he will have to deal with me.  
-And your lute.  
-And my lute. It looks like this will never be forgotten...  
-Not a chance !" Laughed Bofur at a close distance. "The King Under The Mountain being knocked out by a lute will be remembered. I will find a way to make a song about this.  
-You wouldn't !  
-I will."  
Eileen decided that the best would be to write a letter to Samlad, and another letter to Farael. Bilbo was busy chatting with the hat-dwarf, that meant she had some free time for now.  
She wondered how Ayden and his mates would react to the news of her travelling to the east to the Lonely Mountain on the east side of the Misty Mountains.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ayden : "We have a letter from Eileen !"  
> Farael : "Give it to me. Let's see what she has done recently... WHAT THE F... !!"  
> Falael : "Wow. Last time you sweared like this was when Ayden came back to us with the dwarvish axe in his leg."  
> Farael : "Well... Speaking of dwarves..."


	23. Chapter 23

###### Chapter 21 :

_Dear Eileen,_

_I thought we agreed about non life-threatening adventures.  
What possessed your brother to sign a dwarven contract ?! Does he know anything about dwarven culture ? Dwarves can sign a business contract about making the most beautiful jewelry, then decide they are finally keeping it for themselves and even if you paid your part of the deal, you will never get your gold or your jewelry back. This is actually what had happened a very long time ago with the king Thingol, who was a Sindar elf, but this letter would be too long if I wrote the entire story. I will tell you everything about Thingol and how the dwarves broke the deal during your next visit. Feel free to bring your brother along.  
You are certainly surprised that I'm already talking about your next time in Duillond but knowing you, you will find a way to come back alive with your brother. Falael only asks that you stay prudent and keep your distance with the dwarvish weapons. There is no way to know if they have been enchanted except when you get wounded, and Ayden confirmed it.  
Their way of forging enchanted weapons is quite a mystery to my kin and we still have to deal with the consequences.  
Anyway, if you go toward East, you will have to be careful : there are trolls wandering after the Lone Lands and I would be not surprised if you meet some even before leaving the Eglain's territory.  
Keep watch during night and remind yourself that trolls get petrified by the sunlight. They always wander underground during the day and go out at night to hunt and more.  
We are waiting for your next letter and please do not try to engage the goblins you might encounter on your way through the Lone Lands. I have been told they were quite settled in this area and the Eglains don't seem to manage their population efficiently. Your job is to keep your brother safe, not to eliminate every green-skinned creature you might see.  
Falael asks if you will make a stop to the Forsaken Inn. If you do, please check if the ugly stuffed warg is still on display. He saw it ten years ago during a travel to Imladris and it's apparently the ugliest thing he has seen. So if the warg is still in the Inn, please put this beast on fire._

_Farael of Duillond_

Eileen grinned as they were actually staying at the Forsaken Inn because some idiotic Durin's young heir had managed to badly sprain his ankle and the other to twist his arm while trying to catch his brother during his fall.  
So, the Company had to stop a few days for the youngers dwarves to recover.  
The druidess asked Nori's help into locating the stuffed warg and it took an entire day for them to find the beast. It only took the promise of not ruining his next thieving feat. She didn't know if she should be disgusted or horrified by the sight of the creature now in front of them.  
"This... is a warg ?  
-Yep, lass. This is a warg. And this one is not even the biggest.  
-Wait, what ?! It's as big as a bear !  
-Some are even bigger than horses."  
That creature looked like a mix between a wolf, a bear and a hyena with much less fur and bigger teeth and claws. Scary beast !  
"Orcs use them as mounts." Explained Nori. "You know what orcs are ?  
-I just know that they had been created from elves who had been tortured beyond recognition, twisted and brainwashed by the dark valar, then the creatures had started breeding and there is no way now to reverse the process.  
-That's the elvish version. Orcs are evil. They will stop at nothing to get what they want, and they are so heinous than they even kill each other if they don't have a chief strong enough to keep them under control and to give them ennemies to slaughter. Orcs don't just kill, lass. They raid, destroy everything, they rape women and torture the children in front of their parents. They sometimes even eat people alive while they are still screaming and fighting for their life. Orcs are no jokes. If we even meet some on our journey, and I sincerely hope we won't, we will have to be really careful."  
Eileen shuddered : Farael had never told her that.  
A bit more serious about those new knowledges, she watched how the dwarf managed to put the stuffed warg on fire and they fled the room as fast as they could, without being seen. At least, the horrifying beast had been placed in a rather remote place in the Inn, where no one was actually staying. It would take some time for someone to discover that the warg had been burned to ashes and even more time to link it to the dwarven Company with the old wizard and the weird half-horse creature.  
  
Eileen grumbled as rain was falling hard on them. Even with raincoats, travelling was not the best thing to do when it was raining. Bilbo was on her back and complaining about the weather, the dwarves were grumpy, the ponies were grumpy, Gandalf was grumpy...  
One of those puny ponies even tried to bite her hindquarters ! Seriously ! What was wrong with those ponies ?!  
"Is there a way to stop the rain, Gandalf ?" Finally asked Bilbo to the grey wizard.  
"My dear Bilbo, I fear I can't control the weather." Was the answer. The hobbit looked at the druidess who grumbled :  
"Don't look at me like that : I can't control the weather either."  
Bilbo sighed, then asked again :  
"Is there any other wizard in Middle Earth ?  
-Of course, my dear Bilbo, there are 4 other wizards, all scattered around."  
The dwarves seemed interested :  
"Are they as powerful as you or more powerful ?" Asked Bofur. "Would they be able to stop the rain ?"  
Gandalf grumbled this time and said nothing. It looked like today was going to be a bad day on the road. The path was muddy and slippery and some wolves were howling far away. Eileen didn't like this at all : wolves were never a good sign, even outside the Shire. The memories of the Fell Winter and wolves attacking were still present in everyone's mind in the Shire and the druidess was no exception : she still had memories of the freezing cold, the blood on the white snow, and the sharp pain of the bites on her body. She shuddered involuntary and Bilbo frowned : his sister was never shuddering like that in normal times... Was she cold ? Was she scared of something ? He hoped it was just the cold, if it was something scary, he didn't want to know.  
The rain didn't slow down during the evening and everyone preferred to keep walking until they would find something worthy as shelter.  
Finally, they found a broken stonebridge stepping other a long since dried out river. Judging it sturdy enough to stay up for the rest of the night, everyone took shelter under it.  
  
"What a shitty day." Grumbled Eileen, her rain coat dripping and her horse body drenched in water. Her tail was heavy and muddy and she wasn't even talking about the hooves and the legs. Brushing herself while still wet would be useless. She had to wait for her short fur and tail to dry before being able to clean herself by a good brushing.  
She looked at the ponies : they weren't in a better state. And the dwarves : nearly worse. Bilbo was shaking his head to take some of the water off his hair and shook his raincoat, muttering at the bad weather.  
Thorin barked orders in kuzdul, visibly angry about something. Bombur decided to make a late dinner with their usual stew and Bilbo decided to cook a simple hot meal for him and his sister.  
Sister who was strangely watching something in the South-West direction, staying still and tense. This wasn't a normal behavior...  
"Eily ! What's wrong ?" He called, bringing the problem to the attention of the dwarrow. "Have you seen or heard something ?"  
She didn't answer for a few minutes, then stepped out in the rain muttering and walking around the bridge and improvised camp. The bilbo felt the familiar humming of her magic and smiled : she was warding the place. There was something dangerous near but they would be safe.  
Gandalf snorted :  
"My presence alone is enough to deter them, you know ?"  
The druidess flicked her muddy tail at him :  
"Better safe than sorry."  
The wizard chuckled, and that alone was enough to alarm the dwarrow :  
"What did the lass see ?"Barked Gloin. "Why is she putting magic around us like that ?! If she is trying to bewitch us, I swear...  
-Peace, Master Gloin." Replied the wizard. "Young Eileen here has sensed some goblins living near and she has warded our camp so none of those creature would bother us tonight."  
The dwarves grumbled, something about magic being an elf-thing and that sounded like an insult. The druidess huffed and continued putting magical barriers around the place until she deemed it safe enough. Bilbo called her to eat the vegetables stew he prepared. The weather had been too bad for his sister as well as the younger dwarves to go hunting. Thankfully, they still had some dried or smoked meat in their bags and even if the hobbit was still unhappy about not having his usual seven meals like in the Shire, he still managed to keep the three meals + one snack a day since the start of the journey.  
  
No one slept well that night, even if the rain finally decided to leave toward north. Wolves were still howling around and this was unnerving, even for the most stoic dwarf. Fili and Kili had decided to scare Bilbo by telling some horror stories about orcs attacking during night, slitting throats and stealing riches. Thorin wasn't happy at all about that and his shouts were enough to make everyone go silent, even the surrounding wolves.  
Then Bofur decided to talk about goblins. Goblins were known in the Shire and Bilbo brought the tale of Bullroarer Took, much to the delight of the youngsters : finally something epic in the Shire ! Eileen decided to chip in as the mail deliverer were quite used to deal with those evil green little things near Dwalling and sometimes even around Brockenborrings. They could even compare their different tactics to fight them : the dwarves mostly fighting in caves or mines and the mail deliverers fighting in plains and forests. But Eileen had to admit that her nor her coworkers had participated into a total extermination of a goblin nest : they only fought the green skins off and let them run away like the cowards they were, and apparently it wasn't the thing to do.  
"A good goblin is a dead goblin, lass. If you keep leaving them alone, they will continue to breed and breed until they will become a serious threat to everyone. Obviously, you don't know what a horde of goblins can do.  
-Sadly, I don't know much. My experience is limited to fighting the ones I meet on the road. They are mostly travelling in groups of five or six. Sometimes more.  
-That's because those groups are scouts. Their job is to make sure they will find new places to invade, cattle to steal and wives to rape and kill.  
-What ?!  
-Have you ever heard of hobgoblins ?  
-Never.  
-They are bigger, stronger and more intelligent than normal goblins. They are slower though, but still deadly. We think they are created when a goblin manage to impregnate a female, may it be mannish, dwarvish or hobbitish."  
The druidess shuddered in disgust, her bondmate suddently sending some reassuring thoughts through the bond in reaction. She felt something else, as if he was disagreeing strongly with Bofur's words. Disagreeing on what exactly ? Eileen had no idea as she couldn't receive more from her mate.  
  
Nori decided to throw a small rock at Bofur to make him shut up so everyone would try and catch some sleep. Sadly, it didn't work out as the two dwarves ended wrestling each other to the ground with the others (except Thorin and Dwalin) cheering and taking bets.  
  
Bilbo looked around, snuggled into his blanket, a bit frightened about the tales of orcs and goblins. Why were they always keeping horrifying stories for the evening ? It was the best way for the hobbit to not sleep at all. He bundled himself against the equine ribs of her sister who was dozing off.  
  
At the next morning, Eileen was surprised to find herself with not only one hobbit and one dwarf, but one hobbit and three dwarves. Since then was she the nanny of the three younger dwarves ? She couldn't even move as Fili and Kili were sprawled on her side and back. Gandalf smirked and stood up without making any noise. He stepped to the edge of the camp and looked down before snorting in satisfaction : no suspicious footprint on the dirt. He had been right.  
The druidess sighed and resigned herself to wait until one of the four using her a pillow would wake up so she could finally get up as well. The wizard chuckled and did nothing to wake them up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eileen (waking up and seeing Bilbo, Ori, Fili and Kili using her horse body as a pillow) : "I didn't sign up for this."  
> Gandalf : "No, but there you are."  
> Eileen : "I'm going to find a way to spell your beard with the most interesting colors."  
> Gandalf : "Don't worry : no one will ever beat Galadriel's prank. She managed to turn my beard into bright pink and it took three months to get back to its original color."  
> Eileen : "Is this a challenge ?"  
> Elrond (through the bond) : "Eileen, NO !"


	24. Chapter 24

###### Chaptre 22 :

Bilbo sighed as his sister was looking at a large bog from the hill they were actually on. The bog itself was quite far away, below the cliff bording the hill, but this bog was so smelly that they could actually see a greenish fog forming on the ground and the scent was really bad. This place was really strange and worrying.  
"This is Harloeg." Explained Gandalf, startling them. "There is a forest further south, but to access it, you have to cross the bog with quite toxic fumes. My advice is for you to avoid this place at all cost."  
Well... They weren't planning to explore it. The smell alone was enough to make them nauseous from their watching spot and they didn't want to try walking closer.  
Eileen felt her mate tugging on the bond, as if he wanted to get her away from there and go back to the dwarven company.  
"I've been told you could find ghosts at night when you camp near this place." Spoke Nori, ducking down to avoid a headslap from his older brother because he was frightening Ori again. "Not every night, but often during full moon."  
Gloin grumbled something about ghosts and his axe while Bombur decided to not care as he was busy preparing tonight's dinner.  
"This bog hasn't always been toxic and inhabited with unrestful spirits." Told Gandalf. "There was a fortress who was a stronghold against the evil armies but it fell during the second Age against the men of Sauron and the orcs. Since then, the place is a ruin and the spirits are wandering, cursed to stay on this land until the source of evil is no more."  
Eileen grumbled as Ori was litteraly standing against her flank. She had to deal with the three younger dwarves every night since the one under the stone bridge. Why were Fili and Kili deeming her safer to sleep with than their uncle ? They should feel safer with family, not with her. Bilbo asked if she could find something to hunt during the next day because they were starting to get short on dried meat. She nodded and promised she would try and get one of those big boars wandering around. One of them should be enough to feed the Company.  
...  
No, two boars, just to stay on the safe side. Dwarves ate a lot of meat after all, Bombur more than the others, even if Bofur was still doing his best to keep his brother from eating too much. From what the druidess could see, he was doing a pretty decent job on the road, but if Bombur was suffering from a food-addiction, where was little Bofur could actually do.  
Addictions were tricky and hard to treat. Hobbits were no stranger to this and Eileen had sadly seen brave hobbits wasting away in cheap alcohol coming from Bree and dying in their smial, alone and rejected by their own families. Those instances were quite rare but it happened sometimes.  
The worse she had seen was a young Took Hobbit actually addicted to toad venom. The venom was originally harvetest from the ones living around Frogmorton and used by the bounders and shirrifs to subdue dangerous people in and around the Shire. How this young Rollo Took had managed to get a hold of the venom ? No one actually knew but the facts had been here : the fauntling, barely approaching his adult years, had been behaving erraticaly, swinging between depression and violent fits of rage.  
One time, he had attacked and injured a green mail-deliverer, claiming that the poor post-hobbit had been hiding his "stuff" from him and refused to give it back. Since then, the newbies were forbidden to come closer to Tuckborough and Samlad had sent Eileen more often as the drug-addict had always been scared of her centaur appearance. This whole mess ended the day Siegfried had found the young hobbit floating lifeless in the waters surrounding Frogmorton. From whatEileen had managed to gather : Rollo had been trying to get venom from the source itself and had died of poisoning, not knowing a thing about safely harvesting and handling it.  
Since then, bounders and shirrifs were really cautious about their stuff and weapons.

Hours later, Bilbo shook her awake : the dwarves were all sleeping, except the three youngters.  
"What ?" She whispered, already annoyed.  
"Ori has seen something something and he wants you to check if this is safe or not."  
She sighed, turned her head around to see the three dwarves looking at her with insistance and took a deep breath.  
"Alright. Where is it ?"  
They all pointed the north direction. Well... At least, it wasn't toward Harloeg.  
She slowly got up, strechted her equine legs and slowly walked out the camp, accompanied by her brother and the three dwarves.  
The fact that they all went with her was strange. She spotted Gandalf in the corner of her eyes who seemed to watch them leave but said nothing. Fili and Kile were walking in front, while Bilbo and Ori were flanking the druidess. So, what could frighten three dwarves into waking her up, knowing that she was never in the best mood when woken up, and now they were all walking with her to check ?  
After a few minutes of walking, there was nothing. Just the noises of fauna during the night. Nothing abnormal here...  
"Guys, If you have woken me up for nothing, I swear I..."  
The scream from Ori cut her and she reared up as something was emerging from the tall grass.  
What the hell was that thing ?!  
It looked like a turtle mounted on long stilts. It smelled like mud and its shell was large, looking like there was moss and grass on it.  
"What's that thing ?!" Cried Fili. "Do you know what is it ?  
-I have no idea and it doesn't look friendly !"  
Fili grapped his brother and pulled him backward to avoid the really long paws with deadly claws.  
"Step back, boys." Ordered Eileen. "We don't know what it is and what it can do."  
Bilbo yelped as something emerged from the soil and took hold of his ankles. He looked down : it was roots. Normal roots didn't move on their own like this !  
"Eily ! Help !"  
She turned around and saw the roots tightening around the hobbit's feet, threatening to cut the blood flow. Fili and Kili ran to the hobbit to rescue him. Other roots emerged from the ground. Eileen felt her mate react to her situation through the bond and she felt urgency coming from him.  
The strange beast was making some strange warbling sounds and it raised a paw to strike the group with its large claws. The druidess charged her magic to shield her as well as the boys behing her.  
A spear came from nowhere and pierced the beast's long neck, killing the creature who fell with an agonizing screech. The roots stopped attacking and the hobbit as well as the dwarves could now tear them apart.  
"Are you alright ?" Asked an inknown voice in the shadows. "I saw this monster and came as fast as I could.  
-Who are you ?" Asked Eileen as Ori was shielding himself by standing against her flank. "Show yourself !"  
It was a man riding a magnificient chestnut horse. He was wearing a dark green hooded cape that was hiding his face but his boots and clothes looked in good state, obviously made for travelling.  
"Peace, my name is Emrys. I'm a druid like you, mostly traveling on my own to explore and update the maps."  
Eileen bowed to him : she could feel his magic. He was a druid, a really powerful one and his aura felt like he was an elder. Elders were respected in the druidic community as they were the ones who held authority on the other druids. Her mate was alert through the bond, as if he was assessing the newcomer.  
"My name is Eileen. I thank you for your assistance, Elder.  
-Bilbo Baggins, at your service.  
-Ori, at your service, master druid.  
-Fili and Kili, at your service, master druid."  
The druid bowed at them in greeting then guided his horse toward the fallen beast to get his spear back.  
"Stay on the road as much as possible." He ordered. "Those roaming creatures like to hide in bogs and to strike on any unsuspecting traveller passing by. Next time you have a go at them, use fire."  
He slightly bowed at them in farewell and spurred his horse to go on. After a few minutes of silence, Bilbo decided to speak :  
"Are all druids as weird as this one ?"  
Eileen shrugged, not really sure about what to answer. Her brother seemed to realize what he said as he immediatly sputtered :  
"Sorry ! I didn't mean... You're not weird Eileen. Truly. But this one is really strange and I don't know how to behave around him. He just feels... Off.  
-I appreciate the gesture, little bro'. I know that us druids tend to be baffling... -her mate fully agreed through the bond- but I have to admit that Emrys is really disconcerting. He's an elder : a more experienced and much more powerful druid than me so... I guess the more powerful you are the weirder you get ?  
-I think I can accept this as an explanation."  
The younger dwarves asked if this was now possible to return to the camp so they wouldn't encounter anymore of those weird turtle-like monsters. Also, everyone was tired and wanted to get a few hours of sleep before getting woken up by Dwalin's "melodious" voice.

Gandalf smirked when he saw them. He had felt the danger but also sensed the older druid being near. Emrys was a funny fellow, wandering around Arda for 7 or 8 centuries, if not more. The druid himself wasn't counting the years anymore and only his elven mate, living in Lindon, was actually aware of the exact number of years since the druid was here. A shame that lord Cirdan refused to move from the Grey Havens as he was taking his mission very seriously. At least Emrys was here and always ready to lend a hand to help with Gandalf's meddlings when he was around, even if it was just to protect three dwarves, a hobbit and a young druid from a dangerous creature.  
He smiled briefly : tomorrow they would finally step into the Trollshaws. If everything went as planned, he would be able to ask Elrond to translate the runes of Thorin's map, and he would be able to introduce Eileen to her elven mate. After all, he had a bet with Galadriel and didn't want to lose it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Meanwhile, in Imladris :  
> Glorfindel : "Elrond's new mate is slowly getting closer, right ?"  
> Erestor : "How can you tell it ?"  
> Glorfindel : "Well, he has been muttering about making the best first impression. His mother in law decided to spend some days here and she is looking at him with a smirk what tells nothing good."  
> Erestor : "Well... At least the twins are in Evendim with the rangers so there should be not too much mess to deal with."  
> Glorfindel : "So... 5 gold that Elrond will not manage to speak to his mate properly at the first meeting ?"  
> Erestor : "Coward. 10 gold that both won't be able to sort things out without looking like complete idiots during the entire stay."  
> Glorfindel : "Deal."  
> Erestor : "Prepare the gold."


	25. Chapter 25

###### Chapter 23 :

Eileen took a deep breath and massaged her forehead : how hell did the evening manage to turn out in a complete disaster ?

At first, Thorin had decided, and ordered when Gandalf and Bilbo had been protesting against, that the Company would camp next to an entirely destroyed and burned to the ground farm. Then, the grey wizard had angrily left, telling everyone that "he would seek the company of the only with enough common sense in this whole place : himself."  
Needless to say, the hobbit and the druidess had felt quite insulted over his words...  
Then, while bringing soup to Fili and Kili, they had learnt that two ponies had disappeared and that their new mission was to find out who had stolen the ponies AND to steal them back, preferably without Thorin knowing about the whole thing.

It went downhill from there...  
Bilbo had been caught by trolls. Three of them ! Three. Fucking. Mountain trolls. Eileen then had watched the entire company getting captured by trying, and failing miserably, to make a deal with the trolls or to a least embush them properly.  
Dwarves...  
And now, she was the only one still free here, with a grey wizard still missing, and her brother was captured with the dwarves...  
This totally sucked...  
Thankfully, the long evenings in Duillond passed in Farael and Falael's company had taught her some basic knowledges about dark creatures, and trolls were part of them.  
The sunlight was the only way to get definitly rid of trolls. The light had the strange effect of turning them into stone and killing them instantly. Why ? No one knew, but this weakness was still useful to know.  
But how could she keep the trolls busy long enough for them to get surprised by dawn ?  
...  
She actually had no idea.

"Wait, you are making a terrible mistake !" Exclaimed Bilbo. "This is NOT how you cook dwarves !"

She gasped : his brother was a genius !  
Her bondmate reacted through the bond, not knowing what the hell was all that agitation about. Oops, she had woken him up ! And now, she could feel that his full attention was on her and this whole shitshow.

"What do you know about cooking dwarves ?" Asked one of the trolls.  
The druidess shuddered in fear just by the sound of their voices and the smell. She was terrified but her brother was more important than her own fears. Staying hidden would not save Bilbo. She had to get a hold of herself and step in if she wanted to keep her brother and the dwarrow alive.  
"Well, have you smelled them? You need to marinate them in something stronger than Sage before you plate this one up!"  
The dwarves yelled some colorful curses at the hobbit and Eileen growled : no one insulted her brother !  
"He's right, you know ?." She spoke in a hard voice as she stepped out in the clearing, her long tail trailing behind. "Dwarves needs to be marinated for hours with strong spices and aromatic plants to get rid of the smell and gain a better taste, especially with dwarves who certainly haven't taken a bath in the last month."  
This time, the insults were shouted at her and she smirked. Bilbo looked relieved to see her but she knew he feared that she would end in the same situation : tied in a sack and ready to get roasted on this huge campfire.  
Her mate was alarmed about the situation and pulling on the bond but she ignored him : running away was NOT an option.  
"What are you ?" Sneered one of the trolls. "Can we eat you too ?  
-Oh, it would be a bad idea to try and eat me. I'm too bony to even make a light snack and there are rumors about my kin having a poisonous blood, so the meat is not edible at all."  
The poisonous blood was a lie, but since killing, directly or indirectly, a druid tended to inflict some strange and nasty curses to the perpetrator, the safer way was to lie about it.  
"And the burrahobbit ? Can we eat him ?  
-I fear you can't, he is part of my people, bony and poisonous as well."  
Those trolls were actually dumb enough to believe her on the spot, not taking into consideration that a centaur (four legs) was telling them a hobbit (two legs) was part of her people, blood and all. This only confirmed the incredibly low level of intelligence here.  
Alright, they could deal with that. Dawn was near, they just had to save time.  
"Both of you are poisonous ?! But why are you travelling with the dwarves, then ?  
-Why do you think we know about the right way to cook them ?" Replied Bilbo, deciding to team up with his sister.  
-There are our food source." Continued Eileen. "My kin breed dwarves and we keep them in herds. Free-range dwarves are better than kept indoors dwarves so we travel with them and eat one of them from time to time."  
Eileen's mate was actually chuckling through the bond as those trolls were stupid to the point of believing her and her brother.  
"And I believe you didn't know about the precautions to take when you cook dwarves." Smirked Eileen.  
Bilbo looked at her : oh gods, what was she going to say this time ?  
"Dwarves are riddled with parasites. You see the hair and bodyhairs ? All infested with fleas and bugs ! That's why marinating them for at minimum six hours is recommended. Just to kill the bugs !  
-And don't forget the internal parasites, sister." Added Bilbo nodding as the dwarves were cursing them for at least the three or four next generation. "They have those sort of worms in their tubes that are huge and if you get infested, it will be really bad for you."  
Eileen had officially lost her mate who was now truly laughing through the bond. She had to admit that the disgusted faces made by the trolls would be funny if this wasn't actually a life-threatening situation.  
"We don't have parasites !!" Shouted the dwarves between two insults in what seemed to be Khuzdul. "You have parasites !"  
Bilbo sighed and mouthed to his sister :  
"We are surrounded by idiots."  
She nodded at him.  
Then it seemed that Thorin had finally gotten a functioning braincell and ordered them to play along, immediatly changing the tone of the other dwarves. Had they finally understood that the brother and sister were actually trying to save their life ?  
It took long enough...  
"I have parasites as big as my arm !" Shouted one of them, Eileen wasn't even trying to see who was yelling what, too focused on the trolls.  
The trolls looked at each other, not sure about the next course of action. Then the one wearing an apron asked :  
"And how do cook your dwarves if they are infested with worms ?"  
Bilbo decided to reply, being the one with the most knowledges on cooking.  
"Well, after marinating them long enough to drown the fleas and other bugs, - other outraged shouts from the dwarves – you have to skin them and cut them into quartet. The best would be to wear gloves as the worms can still infect you, even after death. Then the meat must be boiled for the same risk of getting infested. Eating a dwarf raw, or even half-cooked, is too risky for your health.  
-It's why you don't roast dwarves, but you cook them into pots." Smirked Eileen, seeing the sky slowly turning pink. "And to think that free-range dwarves are less parasited than the others, it's still frightening to see those worms leaving the bodies. Nasty thing to watch, I don't recommend that."  
Now, if the dawn could come here a little bit faster... One of the trolls was getting impatient and Eileen tried to win some more time :  
"Do you actually know how those worms can kill their host if this not a dwarf ? It's serioulsy disgusting ! They tears your insides while laying eggs and when they leave, they leave by every hole in your body, sometimes they even pop some eye out !"  
Then she looked up as she saw something moving on this huge boulder hiding the trolls from the light : Gandalf ?  
"Dawn take you all !!" Screamed the wizard, stomping his staff of the boulder, breaking the stone in half so it could let the light infiltrate the clearing. The trolls groaned and cowed as they were turning into stone, freezing for eternity.  
Bilbo and Eileen sighed in relief while the dwarves cheered on Gandalf. They had done it : they had managed to distract trolls.  
"We are not doing that again, little bro'.  
-No, we are not. Next time, they're on their own."  
She helped the hobbit to get out of his leather sack and they let the dwarrow free themselves : they were big enough to do it without assistance...  
"Eileen ! Help !" Called Ori. "I can't find the way out !"  
Or not.

It took the druidess, Nori and Dori to free Ori from his own leather sack.

When everyone was finally free, the dwarrow had decided to check if the trolls had a lair nearby. It turned out they had one in the nearby caves, and it was actually easy to find it by the smell. Well, easy to find, but Eileen refused to enter the cave as it was stinking too much for her. Even Bilbo didn't enter the thing but from what they could see and hear, the dwarrow had found some weapons, gold coins, old clothes and farming tools.  
No wonder where the farming tools were actually coming from...  
Gandalf gave Bilbo what seemed to be a dagger, but what was actually the size of a short sword for a hobbit. When her brother unsheated it, Eileen whistled at the blade :  
"That's elvish, definitly. I've seen enough weapons in Duillond to recognize the style. Nice design. I hope you remember the sword lessons from Belladona, Bilbo : you're going to need them.  
-Hem... I think I will need some training. Would you like to train with me ? I fear I don't remember much of those lessons.  
-Well, the pointy end is the one you use to stab the ennemies. The not-pointy end is where you hold it."  
He frowned and threw a pinecone at her as she trotted a few meters away from him, laughing.  
She went serious when Thorin made fun of Bilbo's "letter opener" and the dwarf received a walnut in the eye in retalation, making him grumble and order the Company to get to the ponies before he would get hit by more that a walnut or a pinecone.  
The lute was still here after all...

Hours later, as they were now on the path and riding along a forest, they tensed as they heard howling from the distance.  
"That's not wolves." Stated Eileen, unsure of what could howl like this.  
"Wargs." Corrected Bofur. "Maybe there is a pack somewhere. We have to be careful."  
Some rustling sounds made themselves heard from behind bushes and everyone tensed, ready to defend but they got a meeting with the strangest man they could ever meet.  
"What the... ?"  
How hell could rabbits, even giant rabbits, pull a sled ?! Eileen frowned and focused on the strange old man who looked more like a drug-addict than a wise wizard as the power coming from him was an indication. This guy was actually powerful, really powerful, maybe on the same level as Gandalf, here, or slightly below.  
He and Gandalf were having their own chat a bit further when howls were heard again.  
"Wargs ?" Asked Eileen to Bofur.  
"Wargs." He confirmed, nodding and clutching his weapon. "Stay close to me, lass. You and your brother are safe with us."  
More howls were heard and Thorin reacted :  
"We have to get out of there !"  
Something snarled from behind the bushes and a bear-sized wolf jumped out on them, snarling. Thankfully, Bofur was faster and slammed his long hammer on the beast's skull, followed by Gloin who killed it while the others shouted. A second one charged immediatly but Fili managed to shoot an arrow and Dwalin promptly finished the beast with the help of Thorin.  
"Warg scouts !" Sweared the dwarven king. "Which means an Orc pack is not far behind !"  
Bilbo rose his eyebrows :  
"Orc pack ?"  
Eileen intinctively pushed him toward her flank so he would stay safe if a third warg decided to attack.  
"Who did you tell about your quest ?" Interrogated Gandalf, marching toward Thorin.  
-No one.  
-Who did you tell ?!  
-No one I swear ! By the name of Durin, will you tell me what's going on ?  
-We are being hunted." Replied the grey wizard, looking around in search of a plan.  
"We have to get out of there !" Snarled Dwalin, looking at everyone as he was getting his weapon back from his kill.  
Eileen looked around : fleeing in the forest ? With ponies ? Worse idea ever ! Ponies were not made to run inside a forest.  
"We can't !" Cried Ori. "We don't have any ponies ! They bolted !"  
Bilbo sweared under his breath and wondered if he should jump on Eileen's saddle. He would be safer if they had to run but knowing his sister...  
"I'll draw them off." Spoke the brown wizard with a strange crazy look.  
"Those are gundabad wargs." Protested Gandalf. "They will outrun you."  
The brown wizard grinned :  
"These are Rhosgobel rabbits. I would like to see them try."  
Eileen decided she liked this wizard better than the grey one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is one elvenlord who will have trouble to keep a straight face when he will see the dwarrow because of the mention of parasites. And he lives in Imladris.  
> Well... Maybe he won't be the only one.  
> Maybe -maybe- Erestor and Glorfindel will be told about the whole thing over a cup of tea and a plate of pastries.


	26. Chapter 26

###### Chapter 24 :

"Do you think if we ask nicely next time we meet him, we could get a ride on this sled ?"  
Bilbo frowned and looked up at his sister who was leaning down to him.  
"Why would you want a ride in that sled ?" He asked, making the dwarves chuckles around him as they were all jogging through the forest. "It looks incredibly dangerous and I don't trust those huge rabbits : they're bigger than dogs !  
-Not as big as farmer Maggot's hounds.  
-Those hounds are monsters, not dogs. Since when hobbits need to keep dogs that are as tall as them ? This is crazy. Farmer Maggot is crazy. He shot you once because you had one hoof on his side of the road !  
-True. But since then, I'm extra careful when I travel near his farm.  
-Still ! He is totally crazy. I don't understand why the mail-hobbits have to deliver letters directly to him : he's too dangerous.  
-It's our job. And it's not as dangerous as crossing the Rushock Bog when dwarves are on the warpath or going to Dwaling when goblins are on the loose. It's a normal day for us to dodge an arrow coming from his crossbow. And I would prefer dealing with him on a bad day than trotting away from a pack of orcs and wargs in a forest."  
Bilbo grimaced as he was running beside her. He had tied his backpack to her saddle so he would have less weight to carry for running.  
The wargs howled and she flinched : those howls were awful and scary. She felt her mate react through the bond and he seemed quite angry about something and tightened his hold on the bond. She didn't know what he was actually trying to do as she couldn't use the bond for much as it was too weak for that. She just felt that she had to go South East but couldn't explain why. That sort of thing had never happened before... Was it the bond ? She knew that Farael and Falael could sometimes use their bond with Aiden to guide him when he was in an unknown place. But such things required a quite strong bond.  
...  
It was weird.  
Bombur was falling behind and she slowed down so he could keep up with her :  
"Tie your pack to my saddle." She ordered.  
He looked at her, frowning. She sighed and went on :  
"Listen : I can't carry you, but you can put your travelling stuff on my back so he would be less difficult for you to run."  
He litterally throw his pack and bags on her back and she winced from the added weight. Before she could say something, Balin was already here to add his own pack as well as Oin and Nori was tying everything so it wouldn't fall on the way. She cursed them as the weight was a bit too much for her but she had to go on. Her back legs shook a bit as she tried to catch back with the rest of the Company. It was too heavy for her but she decided to suck up and deal with it. As soon as the wargs would be away from the Company, the dwarves would get their bags back and she would even stomp on Thorin's foot for good measure !  
She powered her legs with her own magic and ignored the strain on her equine back. She would take care of that later.  
It took some time, but they managed to leave the forest, seeing the tall drying grass and huge rocks in front of them. This place was huge ! Gandalf made them stop behind a rock and told them to wait. The druidess shook her head briefly as her mate was pulling on the bond, giving her the urge to continue to move. She had trouble to stay still, and even Bilbo was surprised to see his sister behaving that way.  
"What's wrong, Ely ?" He asked, grabbing her breastplate to ground her. "Is it the wargs ? Don't worry, we are going to run away from them and they will never catch up."  
She clapped a front hoof on the dried ground nervously, torn between the urge coming from the bond and her will to stay with her brother and the Company.  
"It's not the wargs... Well, not only the wargs." She replied, hooves shifting in a nervous pace. "My bond is acting up and it wants me to continue running and I can't let all of you on your own.  
-Your bond can influence you ? I thought it was just a simple connection with your destined mate, nothing more.  
-It's more than a simple connection, little brother. We can share emotions, communicate through a bond. My mate can use my own magic if he desires and he can influence my decisions as well. Druids never have the upper hand in the relationship with their mates. We need them to stay alive and so they have a lot of power over us.  
-That sounds like a rather abusive relationship...  
-Aiden is living with his two mates and is totally fine and free to do what he wants. I guess it depends of the mates and what they decide to do with their druids.  
-Hmm... Well, if your mate is a bad mate, no matter who he is and where he lives, I will put this sword where the sun never shines and he will need help to get it out."  
She chuckled at that and the grip on the bond loosened a little, as if her bondmate had heard the threat coming from the hobbit and was taking it seriously. She still felt the urge to move but it was less strong and a more gentle pull than earlier.

"COME AND GET ME !!"  
The brown wizard arose from between the trees on his sled at full speed, laughing his heart's contents. Those rabbits were actually fast and he was followed by at least seven barking and howling mounted wargs.  
The strange procession passed in front of their rock, not seeing them as the orcs and wargs were focused on the wizard with the rabbits. Gandalf checked and decided it was time to move.  
"Come on."  
Everyone followed without question.  


Running on this ground wasn't easy : there was a lot of huge rocks to zig-zag between and smaller ones who were hidden by the tall grass but actually sharp enough to hurt and break skin when hit.  
Bofur actually faceplanted on one of those smaller rocks. Bifur and Bilbo helped him ot get up while Eileen was pushing them behind as she was closing the march, trying to make them go faster.  
She cursed as she heard more howling : a second pack of wargs was near !  
She reared slightly, just enough to make her brother look around to spot the potential danger and he gasped as he saw the sled with the brown wizard passing at a crazy speed not so far away from them, with twice more wargs trying to get him.  
"That's not good." He stated before Gandalf made them move again.  
They ran between the rocks, guided by the grey wizard, until Thorin stopped in its track and caught Ori just in time before they would be seen by the orcs still on the run.  
"Ori come back !" Ordered the dwarven king, pushing the younger dwarf behind him for protection.  
They managed to not be seen and it was nearly a miracle. Thankfully, the brown wizard was still doing his thing.  
"This way, come on !" Urged Gandalf, gestuing them to resume running.  
Thorin looked at him suspiciously as he was waiting for everyone to be on the move to follow.  
"Where are you leading us ?" He growled.  
Gandalf sighed and said nothing, only moving to follow the Company. Thorin rolled his eyes and joined them.

Ori faceplanted in a startled cry and Eileen stopped next to him.  
"You alright ?  
-I cut my knee on this stupid rock. Why is it hidden by the grass like that ?!  
-We don't have the time to complain. Get up and let's catch up with the others before we get spotted."  
She saw him limp as he was trying to run and sighed :  
"Jump on my back. And I hope you actually know how to ride.  
-I don't !  
-Oh for fuck's sake... Just hold on everything you can and don't fall off !"  
She winced as she felt the weight and her legs shook. It was too heavy ! She had to do it ! She focused her magic on strenghtening her body and forced herself to move. Her back was in pain but she had to ignore it.  
A unmounted warg spotted them and charged without warning the rest of his pack. Ori saw the beast coming and yelled :  
"Eileen ! Hurry !"  
She looked behind her and saw the huge bear-wolf-hyena galoping toward, fangs out and already drooling at the thought of getting a bite out of them.  
"Oh shit ! Hold on !"  
She jumped forward and sprinted, not paying attention to the protests of her legs and equine back under the heavy weight. A second warg saw them and followed.  
"Ori ! I need you to tell me where the wargs are !  
-What ?!  
-I'm going to use my bow and shoot at them ! But I need you to tell me where they are so I can aim. Can you do that ?  
-I believe I can !  
-Good ! Now let's go !"  
She armed her bow and heard one warg coming closer as she was struggling to maintain a fast pace.  
She couldn't look behind as it would slow her and she had to focus on the treacherous grounds in front of her. Her horse body was covered in sweat and she could hear the breath of the beast behind her.  
"On your left."  
She abruptly stopped with her four legs, sliding on the dry ground. The warg, surprised by the sudden change of pace, didn't manage to follow and passed them, trying to turn around to get back to them and attack. The druidess aimed at the beast and shot it in the right eye, killing it instantly.  
"Behind you !" Cried Ori, gripping her tunic for dear life.  
She turned around and saw the other unmounted warg charging and snarling. She aimed and shot it in the throat before sending another arrow in its head.  
Ori cried in victory, before being shushed by Eileen who was trying to listen if there more wargs were near or not. She could feel Gandalf's magic not that far away so she decided to follow it : she needed to get back to her brother and to bring the young dwarf back to the rest of the dwarrow.

She spotted the lone mounted warg on the rock as Ori warned her about the orcs being near, still on the look-out. The warg cried in pain and fell behind the rock with its rider and by the sounds, those twos were not having a good time. It could mean only one thing : the company was behind this huge rock.  
Sadly, the other wargs heard the cries of their fallen packmate and one orc shouted something in its own language.  
"Oh no." Cried Ori. "Eileen, hurry ! We can't stay here with those monsters !"  
Kili nearly shot them when he saw them passing the huge rock and stopping next to them.  
"Don't shoot me, dumbass !!" Growled the druidess, panting heavily. "I'm not running from wargs to end up like a pincushion thanks to one dumb dwarf !  
-Eileen !" Admonested Bilbo. "It's not the time to rant !"  
She stomped one hoof and saw the rest of the wargs with the orcs assembling for a new charge. Gandalf saw them as well and cursed before yelling :  
"Move ! Rrruuunnn !!"  
No one discussed this and followed.

Bilbo struggled but he knew that he is slowed too much, he would meet his end, so he fought to keep his pace. The wargs were trying to circle the Company and he could tell that his sister was getting exhausted as she struggled to keep galoping and had to resort to trotting. Her legs were shaking and Ori on her back wasn't in a better state, gripping the saddle for dear life as he wasn't an experienced rider. The druidess saw her brother having trouble and slowed down :  
"Get on." She panted. "On my back.  
-Ely, no ! You can't carry that much weight...  
-Do it ! I will protect you !"  
He grimaced and jumped, helped by the young dwarf as his sister swayed before forcing herself to trot. Her back legs were threatening to let go but she had to go on. She had to run ! For her safety ! For Ori's safety ! For her brother's safety !  
"This way !" Yelled Gandalf. "Quickly !"  
It was becoming harder for everyone to follow the grey wizard who leaded them to another huge rock formation. Thorin sweared as he saw their chasers circling them.  
"We can't escape !" Yelled Kili arming his bow as he was sprinting to his uncle.  
The dwarven king king looked around and ordered :  
"Kili ! Shoot them !"  
The whole company was assembling in a battle position. Eileen made Bilbo and Ori get down her back and pushed them behind her flanks to protect them, arming her own bow.  
She didn't have enough arrows to shoot them all, and Kili was in the same situation, but they would die trying.  
"We're surrounded !" Shouted Fili, sword in hand and running toward them.  
Fili aimed and shot one charging warg, killing the orc riding it. The warg yelped in surprise and looked around, confused on the next course of action.  
"Where is Gandalf ?" Asked Dwalin looking everywhere frantically. "He's abandonned us !!"  
Eileen growled at the orc slowly approaching them with its mount, but Ori got first by using his sling-shot and hit the warg's head, making it shake the pain off and continue on his path.  
...  
This one really needed to learn how to use a real weapon !  
The orc laughed and Ori stepped back behind the druidess who snarled at the orc. It was her first time encountering orcs and she had to say she wasn't happy at all with the experience !  
"Hold your ground !" Ordered Thorin, unsheating his sword and readying himself for battle.  
"Bilbo, Ori. Stay behind me." Growled the druidess, placing herself as a shield in front of them.  
The wargs barked as they walked closer, waiting for orders to attack. Bilbo winced as he was seeing no way for this situation to get better. Would this adventure end like this ? Killed by a bunch of wargs and orcs ?  
"This way, you fools !" Called Gandalf, surging from behind rocks.  
The hell ?!  
Everyone turned to him and this was the moment the orcs decided to charge. Thorin jumped on a rock and saw the passage leading underground. They could escape the orcs that way !  
He barked orders and the dwarves followed, sliding into the tunnel made of stone one by one. Thorin cut the throat of a charging warg as he yelled at the dwarves to go inside. Ori hesitated and Eileen litteraly kicked him in the backpack to make him fall and slide down to safety. Bilbo didn't wait and went on his own, knowing that she would not hesitate to do the same for him.  
Kili shot one dwarf in the head, smiling at his clean kill while the druidess shot one unmounted warg trying to embush them from the side.  
"KILI !!" Roared Thorin.  
The wayward dwarf hesitated a few second, wanting to shoot more orcs but ran into the tunnel as well. Eileen retreated toward it, not knowing how she could enter into the thing when one warg jumped on her, jaws closing on her right shoulder and made her fall down into the hole. She knocked her head against the stone and unleashed her magic by reflex as the beast's claws where digging red furrows into her equine chest and belly, nearly cutting the breastplate and saddle belt.  
The warg cried out as her magic acted like lightning, killing it on the spot and she blacked out as she made harsh contact with the stonefloor.

"Ely ! Sis !" Called Bilbo, shaking her uninjured shoulder. "Come on. Try to get up."  
Oh gods... What had happened ? Why was she lying on her side and her saddle wasn't on her back ? Why was her head hurting like hell ?  
"Yep, she's got a concussion." Grumbled Oin, frowning at her. "She need to rest. But not here with this dead warg and orc."  
Orc ? Why an orc ? What had happened ?  
"Ely." Spoke Bilbo in slow pace as she was confused and unable to focus correctly. "This warg -he pointed to the beast- attacked you and made you fall. You killed it by using magic but your knocked yourself out for a few minutes. We took all your gear off and pulled you away from the opening as someone else had killed the orcs and this one -he poited to the dead orc and the strange arrow next to it- fell dead into the tunnel. The orcs are no more here, we are safe for now. Do you think you can get up ?"  
Get up ? Sure, she could... She tried but her legs refused to obey properly and everything was too painful to actually manage to lift up on her own.  
"She needs help to get up !" Stated Bofur. "Dwalin, we need your strenght : we have a horse with wobbly legs !"  
The fact that Eileen didn't sass the hatted dwarf back was enough to tell them how unwell the druidess was. It took Dwalin, Gloin, Bifur and Bofur to help her to get up but her balance was off. They put her saddle on her back with all her travelling gear and made sure it was tied before deciding to follow the narrow path underground while Thorin and Gandalf were actually arguing with each other.  
Bilbo walked in front of his sister, talking nonsense to keep her alert enough. Ori was with his brothers but he was often looking back at her in worry. Her legs were wobbly and her hooves unsure. 

When the path leaded them to the side of a mountain, everyone made sure she wouldn't slip and made a deadly fall. The view in front of them was magnificient and Bilbo turned to his sister :  
"Look, Rivendell ! Are all elvish cities like this ?"  
She didn't reply as the daylight was actually making the pain worse in her head. Still, he continued to babble until they managed to get on a more secure path, this time following the grey wizard who leaded them toward the city. Bifur and Bofur had to help the druidess with the stairs, unable to step down without loosing her footing.  
Gandalf told Thorin to shut up and to let him do the talking while they were progressing toward the city and Eileen suddently perked up with a wince :  
"Where are we ?"  
Bofur smiled and gently pat her equine shoulder :  
"It's called Rivendell. But I doubt you'll remember that in a few minutes so... Let's continue ?"  
She was confused about the recent events but followed without question.  
She actually asked again where they were, much to the amusement of Bofur and the worry of Bilbo and the younger dwarves as it wasn't how Eileen usually behaved. Only Oin managed to reassure them by telling them that they would get their sassy half-mare back after a good rest.  
It didn't stop Nori from getting kicked in the stomach when he put a hand on her hindquarter without warning...  
Eileen wasn't sure of what happened next, only that her headaches were getting worse and she was feeling more and more the pain in her equine back and legs. Her human shoulder was hurting like hell and she was exhausted. She let her head rest momentally on Bofur's hat before being gently shaken by unknown tall people. Bilbo told them to not touch her without warning but she reacted first by sending a front hoof toward the nearest knee, refusing contact from unknown people. Her bond was strangely humming in her mind, taking away some of the pain and someone with a deep familiar voice managed to coax her into moving, with the help of Bofur, Bifur and Bilbo because of her unstable legs and some apparently polished floors and stairs. She wasn't sure of what was actually happening but Bilbo promised to tell her everything as soon as she would be back to herself and that for now, the best would be to sleep it off and to let the healers to their work on her.

Gandalf said nothing but smiled as the lord of Imladris was really disappointed at him for bringing a concussed druidess who didn't even react to his arrival with the others riders. The grey wizard was fully aware of the bond between Elrond and Eileen, and if the goal of this journey was to reconquer Erebor and reinstall the Durin line on the throne, playing matchmaker was still funny to do and he had a bet with Galadriel that he wanted to win this time.

For now, he could tell that he was on the right track as Eileen was laying on the bed, still in her centaur-form with her legs folded against her belly, and her head was resting against Elrond's shoulder, as the lord was sitting on the edge on the bed and using his healing magic to help with the concussion while muttering about meddling wizards and how he needed to rethink how he would introduce himself to the druidess.

A bit further away, Lindir was grumbling and massaging his knee who was now wearing a bluish mark forming a hoof-print. Yes : he had touched the weird perarroch. No : he didn't warn her before. Yes : he had heard the halfling's warning and had decided to not listen to it. Now Erestor was smirking while Glorfindel was actually telling the dark advisor how the major domo of Imladris had gotten himself kicked. Between that weird creature that lord Elrond seemed to get really interested in, Mithrandir and the dwarves, -13 dwarves !- he hoped that they wouldn't bring too much chaos in the ordely and peaceful place that was the Hidden Valley and its Last Homely House.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Elrond is mentally ready for introducing himself officially to his druidess, knows he has everything to show himself as a strong, competent and powerful male mate right now (magnificient black horse, spotless armor, killed orcs on the way to protect the incoming company) and finds out that Mithrandir is bringing him a concussed Eileen who is confused af and not in the state to see how good-looking the elven lord is.  
> Now, he has to think about a new way to make the best first impression.  
> He is not thanking Gandalf at all. No. Not at all.


	27. Chapter 27

###### Chapter 25 :

Eileen grumbled as she woke up and got aware of her surroundings : where was she ?  
Her head was slightly pounding, her body really sore and... Had she slept in a bed in her centaur appearance ?!  
...  
Yes.  
She was actually surprised that the bed had managed to hold her weight. Now, where was she ?  
The room was quite small and sparse : the bed where she was actually lying down, a small table, a small window letting the natural light enter the room and a door.  
Her bags and saddle weren't here...  
She looked at the floor and frowned : why was it covered in carpets ?  
This was wierder and wierder...  
"Eileen !" Called a very familiar voice approaching fast. "Finally you're awake !"  
Bilbo ! Her little brother was here ! If he was here, then everything had to be fine. He looked healthy and uninjured.  
"How are you, little brother ?  
-How I am ?! You were the one with the concussion ! You slept for nearly two days with that and your slight magical exhaustion ! The healers took this time to heal your injuries and they just told me that you would wake up then you would be ready to. Don't scare like that again, you hear me ?"  
The druidess was confused : what had she done ? She looked at her body and frowned : she was wearing bandages on her right shoulder and it seemed someone had taken the time to actually bandage her equine chest and belly. Her back legs were smelling strongly and her fur was greenish, as well as her front legs and equine back. Her long tail was clean and totally braided in a long and intricate tread.  
The hell ?  
What had she done to end up in such a state ?  
Her confused frown was enough for the hobbit to gently ask :  
"What is the last thing you remember ?"  
Oh. Had something happened ? What was she doing before falling asleep ? Her head was still hurting a little and she finally replied :  
"We were exiting a forest with the dwarrow and Gandalf.  
-Yes, and ?  
-We were running from wargs and there was a brown wizard with rabbits.  
-He was on a sled pulled by giant rabbits.  
-Do you think we can ask for a ride next time we see him ? I would like to try. Must be fun...  
-It's certainly less dangerous than running from wargs and orcs.  
-Orcs ?  
-Yes, they were riding the wargs and chasing us. Do you remember them ?"  
She focused on her memory and vaguelly found an image of a yelling ugly big humanoid creature riding those bear/hyena/wolf hybrids.  
"I think I remember about the orcs.  
-Good, then ?  
-I carried a lot of weight on my back. Is it why it's been covered by balms ?  
-Yes, and your legs too. Lord Elrond said it should soothe the soreness.  
-Lord Elrond ?  
-I'll tell you later. We were at running from wargs and orcs.  
-Oh yes. Hemm... I remember Gandalf... Some weird tunnel hidden between rocks... And nothing except waking up here. What happened ?  
-You got attacked by a warg and you fell down the tunnel. You killed the warg but the fall had knocked you out and given you quite the concussion. I've never seen you as confused about everything and everyone since the time that you had gotten this bad pneumonia. You couldn't keep your balance and you had litteraly no short-term memory. We arrived to the valley of Rivendell, you worried everyone on the way and you managed to kick an elf in the knee because he touched your shoulder without permission.  
-I kicked his knee ? I was really out of it, then.  
-Yes, if you were in your normal state, you would have kicked him in the groin... So, Lord Elrond, the master of this place stepped in, managed to make you move inside and with some help from the dwarves, you have been brought there in the Healing Wing."  
The Healing Wing ? Alright. She certainly needed it if she was actually missing some memories...  
"Bilbo ? If this place is for healing... Why is the floor of this room covered by carpets ? This is not the best idea if you have to recieve injured or sick people...  
-They put carpets in there so you won't loose your footing with the polished floors.  
-Oh."  
That explained the carpets. Her hooves and polished floors were never a wise combination.  
"Do you want to know what happened next with the dwarves ?  
-Yes, please."  
Thats how Eileen heard about Thorin being rude to their actual host even before entering the place where they were currently residing. It was a wonder if this guy was really a king with all this lack of diplomacy.  
"It's really strange but I think Thorin has a real problem with elves." Frowned Bilbo. "Do you know something about it ?"  
The druidess shrugged :  
"I don't know much about that, just that dwarves always had a tense relationship with elves. Farael promised to tell me more about it at our return from this journey. There is apparently a lot of bad blood in the past and he refused to tell me via letter because it would be too long for him to write everything down. I only know that Noldor elves have nothing against dwarves. It's apparently more with the Sindar and Sylvan elves.  
-Noldor ?  
-There are different tribes of elves. You have the noldor elves, mostly living in the blue Mountains and... Rivendell, so here. The sindar elves who live more on the east side of the Misty Mountains, the sylvan elves live in the large forests on the east side and... I don't remember if there are other tribes... I will have to ask again, next time.  
-I didn't know elves had different tribes. So here, we have noldor elves ?  
-If I remember correctly, yes. So, what happened after Thorin's usual rudeness ?  
-Well, you kicked that one elf in the knee...  
-I'm not apologizing.  
-I wouldn't even try to make you do it. Then they took you away to bring you here and we were given rooms. You should see the rooms, they are really amazing ! I asked if I could stay with you since we are family.  
-Really ? I thought you wanted some time alone to enjoy some quiet since the dwarves are rather noisy.  
-Well, I know you like quiet as well. And let's say that if you are in the same room, the dwarves won't bother me.  
-They bothered you ?  
-We will come to that later..."  
He then told her about the swords found in the trolls'lair. His own weapon was really ancient and still sharp and ready to be used and it didn't have a name because it hadn't been used in battle, for now.  
"Since this weapon is now mine, I have the honor of naming it." Stated Bilbo proudly.  
Then he told her about what happened during the dinner and afterward...  
"They did WHAT ?!"

When Glorfindel entered the chamber, he rose an amused eyebrow at the druidess trying to get up while the hobbit was trying, and failing, to keep her laying down on the bed. It ended with with the female perarroch standing on her four equine legs and the halfling pouting while sitting on her back.  
"The healers says you have to rest !" Protested Bilbo in a vain attempt.  
By the snort coming from Eileen, the blond elf could tell she was having none of it :  
"I'm rested enough ! We are in someone else's home and those barbarians are nothing but disrespectful to the host ! Not on my watch ! I'm going to find them and kick some sense into their thick skull !"  
Glorfindel chuckled : this one was a spitfire ! No wonder why his lord was never bored since he got his new bond. Now maybe he could introduce himself before Elrond would decide to barge in there to stop his small fierce mate.  
"Good afternoon, mylady." He spoke with a clear voice, stopping the bickering between the brother and sister. " I present myself : lord Glorfindel of the Golden Flower house. I heard you have some troubles standing on your hooves with the floors and I come here to propose a solution."  
He proudly showed four strange things made of leather and it had the merit to make everyone pause at him.  
"Hoofboots ?" Asked Eileen after a few second of silence. "Seriously ?"  
Bilbo looked surprised to see the tall blond elf who was way too cheerful for his sister right now.  
"Yes ! I made them myself ! Now if you could allow me..."  
The hobbit let himself slide down from his sister's back and approached slowly :  
"You know you didn't have to trouble yourself by creating those leathershoes. Eileen should be able to change back in her human form in a day or two.  
-Nonsense !" Replied Glorfindel already tying one boot to Eileen's right front hoof. "I wanted to make some for my own horse, Asfaloth, so he and I would be able to travel on more slippery grounds, but I haven't got the time to test them, so I made smaller ones for the fiesty lady here to see if they would work."

Bilbo was shocked to see how elves could take such liberties with touching his sister's equine legs and putting the strange leather shoes on her hooves. And his sister was actually letting the elf shoe her ! No threat, no kicking, she was just giving her hooves to him ! And she even thanked him for doing this ! This wasn't a hobbit thing to do !! Feet were sacred in hobbit culture !  
"Sister, I can't deny that you're shocking me right now !"  
Eileen looked at him with a unimpressed look :  
"Elves don't have the same way of living as hobbits, men or dwarves, Bilbo. Personal space is often a weird thing for them when they encounter strangers. And besides, he is just putting my hooves in boots. It's not a proposing or some sort of thing."  
The blond elf laughed while tying the fourth and last boot and he stood up, proud of his job.  
"Here we go, mylady ! Now, if we could try those beauties by taking a small walk outside of this dready room. Maybe your brother could show you the way to your room and you could explore a bit before dinner. I would suggest a bath as well to get rid of this ugly green color on your fur."  
He stepped back to give her some space and she tried walking.  
Bilbo had to do his best to not laugh but the elf didn't even try as his sister walking weirdly with the boots, not used to have things around her hooves.  
"Ely, that's just ridiculous !" He managed to say before giggling.  
She flicked her long trailing tail, nearly hitting her brother with the long braid. Oops. She totally forgot about her braided tail...  
She exited the room and proudly stepped in the corridor, the boots muffling the clapping of her hooves and actually helping her to keep her balance on the polished floor.  
"Are you two coming or are you staying here and laughing like idiots ?"  
Bilbo ran to his sister and Glorfindel wiped a tear of mirth before catching up to them and engaging the conversation until they managed to get to ther own room.

Glorfindel was still chuckling when he went back to Erestor and his assistant Melpomaen who were actually busy working in the library.  
"How it went ?" Asked Erestor without looking up from the rolls on his desk.  
"It went good." Snickered Glorfindel. "I put the boots and they work ! Now I can make the same for Asfaloth !  
-By Eru... Don't even think about bringing your horse inside the Main House. Lindir would have a fit and you know how he can be when something is not perfect.  
-I know, it's a wonder he is still keeping his calm with all the chaos the dwarves are causing... But I'm happy that the boots work ! You said they wouldn't !  
-I didn't say they wouldn't work, I said we couldn't be sure about the results. It's different."  
Melpomaen sighed as the two older elves continued their bickering. How could he work in those conditions ?

Hours later, Bilbo was happy to get back his sister with no bandages, no dried green balm and apparently no aching head at all : she had used her own magic to heal her injuries and only the warg bite on the shoulder was still here but it was nearly healed. She was wearing a long dark green sleeveless tunic and a long leather belt that could touch the ground if she was in her human appearance. Since she was still in her centaur appearance and still having those ridiculous boots on, he decided to turn his attention on the view and didn't even glance at his sister who laid down next to him so she could be more at his height and still lean on the beautifully carved stone railings.  
"I'm surprised the company didn't come to visit us." Spoke Eileen in an even voice. "The view here is truly wonderful. Did I miss that when we arrived ?  
-Yes, you did. And I think if the dwarrow want to stay alive a little longer, they shouldn't come to you right now. They are more or less ignoring me since our arrival here ?  
-Really ? Why ?  
-It's complicated.  
-Do you want me to deal with them ?  
-Hem... No, it would only make things worse...  
-If you say so."  
They stayed in silence for long minutes until approaching steps were heard and Eileen looked behind just to freeze for a few second. Her magic was recognizing the newcomer ! Her bond as well was happily purring. Was the newcomer his mate ?  
...  
Her magic was happily swirling inside and she felt warmth coming from the bond. Yes the newcomer was her mate.  
Oh shit...  
She didn't say anything as the tall elf with dark hair and grey eyes walked toward her and her brother with a gentle smile just to lean on the balcony next to them. By the clothes, Eileen could tell he was a noble elf and some of his breads were similar to Falael's braids. So, he was a healer but she couldn't tell about the rest of the braids...  
Bilbo saw the awkward glances that his sister was throwing at the elven lord and decided to help :  
"Lord Elrond, here is my sister : Eileen, known as Thunderbolt, from Hobbiton. Eileen, here is lord Elrond, he is the ruler of the valley of Rivendell."  
The druidess got up on her four legs and put her right arm on her chest before slightly bowing to properly greet the elven lord.  
"I'm honored to meet you.  
-The pleasure is mine."  
She shuddered at the sound of his voice : she knew this voice ! It was the one calling her when she was badly injured or sick ! It had been him the whole time ?  
She didn't know how to react to the situation and thankfully the elven lord decided to chat a bit with her brother so she could get a hold on herself again.  
"Not with your companions ?" Asked the elf, looking at the view in front of them.  
Bilbo shifted, uneasy and his sister frowned at him as she was laying down so she could get back to contemplating the scenery. She glanced at her side and hold back a snickers when she saw that her brother was actually half the size of her mate as her magic her bond were confirming it. It was fun to watch them side by side.  
"No and it should be the best." Replied Bilbo, hesitating. "The truth is that most of them think I shouldn't be on this journey."  
Now, Eileen wanted names... Her lute was still whole and she was sure that it could crack a few dwarven skulls before the end of the day if her brother decided to say more about this.  
"Indeed." Spoke Elrond. "I've heard that hobbits are very resilient.  
-Really ?" Wondered Bilbo, not sure if the elf was serious or not.  
The tall elf nodded before looking back at Bilbo :  
"I've also heard that they love the comfort of their home."  
He was now staring at Bilbo and Eileen fought back a smile : she was familiar with elven sass and her brother had now to give a good reply to keep this going on. The hobbit shared a worried glance with her, sighed and finally talked back :  
"Well, I've heard that it is unwise to seek the council of elves, for they will say both 'yes', and 'no'."  
Oh... This one was a good one. Always sass back an elf who started sassing you. That was the rule.  
Elrond stayed silent for a few seconds, face unreadable for Bilbo but Eileen could feel the amusement through the bond and she chuckled as her brother was actually getting worried over having somehow offended the lord of Rivendell. Then the elf cracked a smile and her bilbo laughed a bit, feeling relieved.  
"You are very welcome to stay if that is your wish." Finally spoke the elven lord, patting Bilbo's shoulder and looking at both him and the druidess watching them interact. "It goes for both of you."  
Then he walked away without further words and Bilbo waited until he was truly gone before letting himself fall against his sister's side.  
"Are elves always that intense ?  
-Yes, but you get used to it. Now, if you could tell me more about the dwarrow and their choice of words..."

Lindir walked next to his lord, not really happy about the events. He had thought that his lord would stop being interested in the perarroch but it seemed he was wrong. Maybe it was just the novelty of it and the fact that there was a hafling as well but still... How could the perarroch be interesting ? She was just weird and savage. She had kicked his knee for Eru sake.  
He internally hoped that the company would leave really soon so there would be no more dwarves in the valley, no more hafling and no more weird half-horse creature disrupting the peace.

"Eileen ?  
-Yes Bilbo ?  
-Is lord Elrond your mate ?  
-Why are you asking ?  
-You just had an unusual reaction to him when I made the introductions, and you never kicked him when he touched you to guide you into the healing wing and to treat your injuries.  
-Well... He is.  
-He looks like a decent fella.  
-You're taking that really easily.  
-Well, I'm not the one who has to deem him worthy of being with you so I'm good.  
-You think Grandpa Gerontius will give him hell ?  
-Grandpa ? No, he would be delighted to welcome him. I was speaking about your coworkers : Samlad, Siegfried and the others."  
Eileen paused :  
"Oh shit..."

Meanwhile, in the Shire, Samlad sneazed loudly, scaring everyone around.  
"Someone is talking about me !"  
He wiped his nose and grabbed his beloved staff before going back to training the new recruits: he had a job to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eileen (sensing her mate approaching, and actually seeing for the first time) : "Oh no, he's hot."  
> Bilbo (amused by the whole thing) : "Do you think Samlad will make him fight dwarves in the Rushock Bog to prove his worth ?"  
> Eileen : "Bilbo, you know what ? Let's not tell my coworkers about him. If they get wind of this, they will never leave me alone."  
> Bilbo : "Oh come on, what would Samlad make him do ? You know him, you surely have some ideas !"  
> Eileen : "Yes and this is scaring me."


	28. Chapter 28

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was actually pre-written and I couldn't resist to post it now instead of waiting two weeks and more. Hope you enjoy it. :)

###### Chapter 26 :

Elrond was taking a stroll into his gardens with Lindir, listening to the morning report from his assistant who was obviously distressed by the dwarrow :  
"The kitchens are under enormous strain. We are almost out of wine. How long do you think we will be with us, my lord ?"  
The elven lord sighed : so much for a pleasant walk... He heard the hobbit talking a bit further away with his sister who seemed to not have shifted into her human appearance yet. He wanted to go to them and use the occasion to check what could keep his little mate from going back to her two-legged form but this was not possible for now and he had still an answer to give to his assistant :  
"That had yet to be decided." He answered before hearing splashing noises and he looked at the direction of the sounds, only to see dwarves swimming in the fountain, entirely naked.  
Oh gods...

Bilbo didn't know what to do. He was stuck between being scandalized by the sheer horror of the scene and dragging his sister away from it because no one needed to see a bunch of dwarrow NAKED.  
He finally opted for the last option and pulled Eileen arm behind him as he was trying to make her turn around and to walk back toward the House. Maybe they would take a turn into the roses garden and forget what they saw by watching the trees, the bushes, the flowers... Well everything but not dwarves naked in that fountain !  
His sister didn't move, hooves firmly planted on the clean stone path. He looked up and saw her face : she was livid. Her horse body was tense and her tail was swishing rapidly. Her ears were pinned down and the hobbit could easily guess her mood : she was pissed.  
He looked further and saw Lindir and the Lord Elrond, both of them standing in shock and disgust at the dwarrow.  
"Eileen," he tried softly."I know you're angry, but please, let's try to not antagonize them ?  
-Five minutes." She spoke in a low voice.  
-What ?  
-Just five minutes and I will make this bunch of barbarians leave the fountain, dressed or not.  
-I don't think our hosts want to see the dwarves running around naked.  
-Alright, ten minutes then."  
Bilbo let go off her arm but he couldn't shake off the feeling that he had somehow signed the death sentence for the dwarrow. A part of him wanted to walk back into the House, but the other part wanted to watch. And again, he chose the last option. So he decided to sit on the nearest stone bench he could find and waited.

Elrond was decided to lead his horrified assistant away from the dwarrow when he felt at first the shock, then the anger coming from his mate through the bond.  
Oh by Eru, she was near... And she saw the dwarves... and she was not pleased at all by this... Well, as he saw her walking in a determined pace, he could say the dwarves were not going to have a good time. So, he did the only sensible thing to do : he leaded Lindir further away, somewhere where they could still watch and hear the scene but not be seen.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN THE FOUNTAIN, YOU BUNCH OF CAVEMEN ?!!"  
The dwarrow actually startled at the shout. It was the half-mare ! And she looked angry.  
"What do you think we are doing ? Shouted back Dwalin. "We are bathing !  
-Really ?" Sneered the centaur. "I'm seeing here nothing but a bunch of unruly pigs in that fountain !  
-Who are you calling pigs, old nag !  
-I am calling YOU a bunch of pigs !! Seriously, there are bathing rooms ! And there are not here for decorating ! Get the hell out of this fountain ! You're going to scare people away !  
-Let them be scared !" Laughed Nori. "Dwalin, why don't you make her shut up ?  
-Good idea." Grinned the dwarf. "Last warning, lass : leave us alone or suffer the consequence !  
-Well make me, you coward !!"

Erestor and Glorfindel heard the screaming and decided to go outside to check what was happening. By doing this, they joined their lord and his assistant still in their spot where they could watch the scene without trouble. Erestor snorted in disgust :  
"Naked dwarrow in the fountain ?!  
-Yes."Grimaced Elrond. "But I don't think they will stay for long in the water."  
Glorfindel leaned down on the railing, ready to watch the action.

Bilbo made a face as he saw Dwalin, getting up and walking out the fountain in his naked glory. His sister wasn't impressed at all, and the hobbit actually wished that the dwarves would listen to her before she decided to take matters in her own hands... or hooves. Sure she didn't have any weapon on her in Rivendell, but her whole six-limbed body was a weapon itself. The dwarf actually charged, confident it would suffice to intimidate the centaur who charged in a galoping thunder of hooves.  
At first the dwarves laughed, until Dwalin got hit by her hindquarters and kicked forcefully in the stomach. It sent him back in the fountain but this time he struggled to get out of the water, helped by Bifur and Bofur. The rest of the dwarves looked at Eileen in bewilderment : she wasn't joking at all !

Eileen stomped one hoof on the stone path, huffing as she saw the dwarrow sharing glances as if to decide who would attack next.

Nori decided to take his chance : he wasn't like Dwalin : charging head first then asking questions. No, this horse needed to be taught a lesson.  
"I will show you how to break and ride an unruly mare."  
She stomped her right front hoof in warning. She wouldn't do any further warning : if the dwarves were too thick to understand, it wasn't her problem.  
Bifur and Nori attacked in the same time. She reared as they were holding on her clothes and she bolted in a stupefying speed, kicking and jumping. Targeting a tree trunk, she slammed her left side against it and by the pained grunt : she got one !  
Bifur was now on the ground. One more left. Nori had actually managed to sit on her back and she was disgusted by the fact she had a NAKED dwarf oh her back. This time, she would not hold herself down !  
Nori winced more than once when he felt his sensible parts hit the dorsal spine of the half mare who was putting the show of a real rodeo horse, bucking, kicking, rearing and bolting like crazy in the gardens around the fountains. He got hit by branches, had to catch himself to not end in some thorny bushes, nearly kept his legs from getting crushed by a statue. Some elves were watching the commotion, pointing at them and commenting in their own tongue. Elves... He was going to show them how to break this unruly hors...  
A brutal halt sent him flying into a thorny bush three meters away. The elves laughed this time as Eileen snorted, a bit like a satisfied horse who just won a fight against a worthy opponent. When she turned toward the fountain again, the remaining dwarves tensed. She stomped her hooves in anger, her whole body ready to charge and yelled :  
"GET OUT THE FOUNTAIN !! AND PUT SOME CLOTHES ON YOUR ASS FOR FUCK'S SAKE !!!"  
This time, all of the dwarrow fled when she charged them out of the fountain, her own magic swirling dangerously around her, even the injured ones, helped by their companions. Fili and Kili actually ran away without taking their clothes and the rest managed to hide in the bushes long enough to put at least some pants before being chased away by an pissed off centauress.  
Bilbo had to admit : his big sis' was scary when angry. And he had no regret about having watched the entire scene.  
It was actually the funniest thing he had seen in quite some time !

On the elven side, Glorfindel was chuckling while Lindir was starring in shock at the druidess still chasing all the dwarves away from the fountain. Erestor smirked and looked at his lord who was strangely looking satisfied and proud.  
"My lord." Tried Lindir, still in shock from the scene and the outcome. "It seems the perarroch can scare them into behaving...  
-Indeed." Smiled Elrond."Make sure that any discipline problem with this Company will be reported to her so she can deal with them personally. If we step in, as elves, the dwarves will not listen to us. They will listen to her if they don't want a repeat of... this."  
The fountain was now empty of dwarves but there was water everywhere around. The staff was going to need to empty the fountain, to scrubb it clean, and probably scrubb it more just to be sure before putting any new water in it. There was one trace of blood on the nearest wall. One of them seemed to have been injured after all...

Gandalf said nothing about Elrond's new "I have a scary mate and I'm not afraid to use her" card against the Company. It wasn't like he already had a grumpy advisor, a blonde heroic warrior and the terror twins...  
No, it was fine.  
Really.  
If it could keep the grey wizard from endangering his friendship with the lord of Rivendell because of the unruly dwarrow, he was fine with it.  
Even if it meant watching Fili and Kili running away naked inside the House toward their rooms...  
Now, if he could manage to get a hold of Thorin and Balin and to finally get this map read so they could finally find out where was the secret passage allowing them to enter inside the Lonely Mountain, he would be glad.  
He just hoped that Elrond would not do something behind his back just to get his revenge on him...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dwarrow : having fun in the water  
> Elves (shocked and disgusted) : "By Eru, body hairs in the water..."  
> Bilbo : "Fuck this shit, I'm out."  
> Eileen : Kill mode activated  
> Dwarrow : "Why are we hearing boss music ?"


	29. Another drawing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Imladris Flash News : angry perarroch chasing away the young Durin heirs. More news at ten : the minstrels will get the whole story from witnesses and hopefully the result.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To make you wait until the next chapter ^^


	30. Chapter 30

###### Chapter 27:

The next day, the dwarrow were trying to somehow "get revenge" about the "Fountain Incident". If Lindir had been worried about this, Erestor and Glorfindel had actually been rubbing their hands and watching with attention, wanting to see some action in the valley of Imladris.  


Bilbo was facepalming : where was Gandalf when you needed him ?  
But no : the grey wizard was actually having a "chat" with the master of Rivendell and would not be available for the whole day. And by the face he has made by telling this to the hobbit, it sounded more like he was going to get his ear chewed off... Bilbo wasn't sure if the elven lord could even be mad : he seemed like a really kind being, not easy to anger.  


He decided to not think about that and focused on the many books awaiting him in this HUGE library in front of him. He briefly wondered if his sister was here. She had taken back her fully human appearance and was happy to walk on two feet again. She had told him that she had been scared of not managing to take her bipedal form again after such time staying on four hooves and he had helped her to go through this by talking her through it and relying on what you could feel on two legs instead of four.  
It seemed that staying as a centaur for a long time without shifting back was actually a bad idea.  


He walked through the aisles, not looking for any particular book but instead just feeling the quiet feeling in this huge place. This place was perfect for reading and studying. There was even maps in a corner ! He could retrace the way he went from the Shire to there on one particulary big map of Eriador. He briefly wondered how long it would take to get to Erebor and back to the Shire, to Bag End, and what dangers he, his sister and the dwarrow would meet on the way. Trolls and orcs and wargs were more than enough !  
Maybe he should consider lord Elrond's offer to stay there in the safety on this valley... Who would blame him ? Not his sister : she was staying with him to actually make sure he wouldn't get killed, may it by a monster or one of the dwarves.  
But then, he had signed a contract... Not respecting a contract was a serious offence in the Shire. Apparently, dwarves could allow themselves to break a contract if they could gain something from doing it, but they would kill you if you were the doing it.  
...  
Let's talk about hypocrisy here...  
He didn't want to risk death for being a contract breaker... The dwarves were already bad enough right now. Seriously, why had Gandalf insisted for him to go on this journey ? Why not taking one of the more experienced Tooks from Tuckborough ? He was a respectable hobbit, not an adventurous one...  
"Bilbo ?"  
He startled, surprised by the sudden voice and sighed in relief when he recognised his sister, sitting cross-legged on a comfy chair with a leather book opened in her hands.  
"Hi Eileen." He greeted. "You found the library.  
-Yes, and not every books are in Sindarin. They have books in Common Tongue over there, and some are in Westron in the other part a bit further. There are books in another language but I can't identify it. Maybe it's from the eastern side or the south...  
-How do you know this ?  
-I asked the librarian's aide. He's a nice fellow, a bit shy and insecure but he can direct you to some good books.  
-I see. What are you reading ?  
-A book about orcs, goblins and how to get rid of them.  
-Oh. So, what is the best way to get rid of them ?  
-There are a lot, actually. Did you know that goblins can see in the dark and they are actually blinded by sunlight ? That explains why they only attack at night or when the weather is really bad.  
-Really ? I didn't know that. Did you ?  
-Bounders, shirrifs and mail deliverers saw it but we only thought they were scared of sunlight, not that they are blinded by it. It's good to know. But firelight doesn't blind them.  
-A shame...  
-And Bofur was wrong about hobgoblins.  
-Really ?  
-Yep, they are not a result of a mix between goblin with a human woman, dwarrowdam or hobbitess: there are just a rare type of goblin who sometimes just gets there and no one really knows why. It's like the goblin kings.  
-Goblin kings ?  
-Yes, they are bigger, stronger and smarter than normal goblins. Apparently, they just pop up from time to time and no one knows where they actually come from.  
-And no one studied goblins long enough to know either. And by how big goblins kings can get... How big are we talking about ?  
-From what I can read... Taller than Gandalf ?  
-That's big.  
-Yep.  
-And how do you kill them ?  
-The most efficient way is to behead them.  
-That would survive a beheading by the way ?"

Melpomaen watched the hobbit and the druidess chatting in low voices to not disturb the quiet in the library and sighed in relief : it had been his first time seeing a hobbit and his first time seeing and interacting whith a druidess, who was actually bonded to lord Elrond, and everything had gone well. He had been scared of the female human at first since he had heard of her kicking Lindir in the knee and then what had transpired in their most beloved fountain in the gardens. She had been nice and polite to him and the hobbit seemed polite as well. Maybe they weren't as bad as Lindir was insinuating...  
He spotted Erestor and walked toward him, wondering if he should tell the librarian about them being in the reading corner near the History aisle. Surely his master would like knowing that.

Erestor didn't look interested over the fact that the two shirelings were in his library as long as they didn't disrupt the peace and quiet. He praised his assistant for getting over his fear and gave him some tasks to do : books had been displaced, again, and they now needed to be put at their rightful spot, again.  
How could he get some paperwork done when people were spending their time to missplace the books in the library ? At least, they weren't borrowed without being checked out first...

Eileen and Bilbo spent the day in a relative quiet, until Dwalin found them taking a stroll in the gardens and called them :  
"Burglar ! Where are ya' been ?! And you, old nag : where are your hooves ?! What is this sorcery ?!  
-This is a druid-thing." Replied Bilbo, hoping it would end on a peaceful manner. "Druids can shape-change.  
-Really ?! Well, it doesn't look that bad when you have two legs, lass ! Think you will be able to kick my ass like yesterday ?! I want revenge for that ! If I win, I will destroy you and you'll not be able to walk for the next week."  
Eileen felt the anger coming from her mate through the bond and mentally pushed it away. It wasn't the worse threat she had been told, but this dwarf was tall and strong, and a dangerous warrior. There was no denying it. However he was as subtle as a charging enraged bull : Yell and attack first, then ask questions.  
His way to attack was actually the first thing that all hobbits in charge of security and/or mail delivering were taught to counter. Eileen wasn't a hobbit, but being adopted and raised in a hobbit family had given her the same rights as any hobbit in the Shire : she had been taught the ways of fighting with daggers, staff and bow, and even objects that you could use everyday. She had been taught hand to hand combat as well and hobbits could be really vicious in unarmed combat.  
There was a reason why the Shire had never been invaded and it wasn't just the dunedain rangers keeping them protected : the inhabitants were small compared to the other races and most were rather peaceful, but the ones protecting the land were not to be crossed.  
Bilbo looked at his sister who was grinning darkly and muttered :  
"Oh no, here we go again..."  
He walked to the nearest stone bench and sat on it :  
"I will stay here and wait until it's done."  
Dwalin laughed at the hobbit :  
"Better call one of those pointy-eared healers. She will need it !"  
The foot hitting his face proved him wrong and Bilbo facepalmed : dwarves... Would they never learn ?  
His sister was swift and surefooted, unlike the dwarf who was relying on brute strenght only. Sure, it was an advantage against orcs, wargs or other creature that would charge first. But on hobbits...  


The elven gardeners only looked up when they hear the dwarf shooting what seemed t be insults in Khuzdul as he never managed to hit the druidess who was unarmed but landing hit after hit, even king him trip and loose balance a few times.  
Bilbo was wondering if she was trying to tire the warrior out before finishing him or if she was just playing with him. Anyway, it was entertaining to watch and it seemed that a few elves had decided to watch the scene and comment in their own tongue. He couldn't understand what they were saying but it looked like they were enjoying any little thing happening in their Valley.  
His sister had told him more than once that elves were huge gossips and if they could first-watch some drama or hear the freshest news, they would get the upper hand on the gossiping.  
He heard a thunder-like sound and Dwalin got thrown to the nearest thorny bush and stayed stuck in it. Eileen was standing on the path, panting and trying to not put too much weight on her right foot.  
"You're alright, sis ?" He asked, a bit worried that she might get injured.  
She turned around and smiled at him :  
"I'm good but I think I twisted my ankle on the last kick. Dwarves are sturdier than I thought. It's not easy to get a good hit on the first time when barefoot.  
-Better luck next time, I guess. It looks like he's not going to move out this bush for some time... Let's get you to a healer for your ankle ?  
-Yes, please."

Gandalf found them after dinner as Eileen was grumbling about dwarves and how they were as tough as they were stupid and how stupid it was to twist your ankle while kicking Dwalin in the face. Bilbo replied that she was actually lucky her foot hadn't touched his teeth because he wasn't sure when was the last time he had seen the dwarrow actually brush their teeth.  
"Imagine if you had cut your foot on his teeth." Shivered the hobbit. "The risk of infections..."  
The druidess wasn't impressed and told him that she saw the -Ur and -Ri dwarves being quite strict on their personnal hygiene and the young Durin heirs seemed to follow their exemple. As overall, it looked like dwarves had at least some basics on that subject, maybe not as much as hobbits and elves but some...  
The grey wizard said nothing about the bandaged ankle : he wasn't responsible for this, Elrond would not hold this against him, but he needed Bilbo and Eileen's presence as well as Balin's to manage to get Thorin to let Elrond read the map concerning Erebor and it's secret entrance : Balin for the convincing, Bilbo for the persuading, and Eileen for the threatening.  
He needed at least those three to keep the dwarf king away from creating a diplomatic incident...  
Bilbo was curious and wanted to see how would the elven lord read the map if there was any hidden message there or not. Eileen just asked if she had to bring her lute and smirked when Gandalf said she could. The lute was Thorin's Bane. They would need it as well.

So Gandalf decided to set the brother and sister near the library,and asked them to wait while he was going to fetch Thorin and Balin. Eileen was plucking the strings on her lute and humming a slow rythm. Bilbo got bored and turned to her sister :  
"Can you sing something for me ? If you want of course...I've never had the occasion or hearing you singing before this journey. Maybe something quiet as everyone must be sleeping ?"  
Some minstrels were still playing in the nearest area that was large enough to hold them but the druidess understood Bilbo's request : it wasn't a time for bawdy songs (even if it would be funny to do so) and her brother wanted to spend some time alone with her before having to deal with Thorin.  
She took a deep breath and sang in a soft voice :

_A young man walked through the forest  
With his quiver and hunting bow  
He heard a young girl singing  
And followed the sound below  
There he found the maiden  
Who lives in the willow_

_He called to her as she listened  
From a ring of toadstools red  
'Come with me my maiden  
Come from thy willow bed'  
She looked at him serenely  
And only shook her head._

_'See me now, a ray of light in the moondance  
See me now, I cannot leave this place  
Hear me now, a strain of song in the forest  
Don't ask me, to follow where you lead'_

_A young man walked through the forest  
With a flower and coat of green  
His love had hair like fire  
Her eyes an emerald sheen  
She wrapped herself in beauty  
So young and so serene_

_He stood there under the willow  
And he gave her the yellow bloom  
'Girl my heart you've captured  
Oh I would be your groom'  
She said she'd wed him never  
Not near, nor far, nor soon_

_'See me now, a ray of light in the moondance  
See me now, I cannot leave this place  
Hear me now, a strain of song in the forest  
Don't ask me, to follow where you lead'_

_A young man walked through the forest  
With an axe sharp as a knife  
I'll take the green-eyed fairy  
And she shall be my wife  
With her I'll raise my children  
With her I'll live my life_

_The maiden wept when she heard him  
When he said he'd set her free  
He took his axe and used it  
To bring down her ancient tree  
'Now your willow's fallen  
Now you belong to me'_

_'See me now, a ray of light in the moondance  
See me now, I cannot leave this place  
Hear me now, a strain of song in the forest  
Don't ask me, to follow where you lead'_

_She followed him out the forest, and collapsed upon the  
earth  
Her feet had walked but a distance,  
From the green land of her birth  
She faded into a flower,  
That would bloom for one bright eve  
He could not take from the forest,  
What was never meant to leave._

Bilbo said nothing as Eileen ended the song on a soft note and noted that the minstrels had decided to replay the melody from their spot. Did elves had such a sharp earing ? It seemed they had. And knowing them, since they had apparently heard something new, the minstrels were going to try and play the song on their own.  
Someone cleared their throat and they both jumped and turned around to see Elrond standing near the entrance of the library, with his his robes and circlet and a rather stern look on his face :  
"Good evening, you two. Have you seen Mithrandir ? He asked me to wait for him here.  
-He asked us the same thing." Replied Bilbo as Eileen nodded. "He told us that he was going to fetch Thorin.  
-And Balin. "Added his sister. "I don't know what he is preparing but he should arrive soon."

The elven lord frowned a bit but said nothing : Mithrandir was scheming. It didn't look like he had learnt anything. The dwarf king was not behaving like a king should : he was rude to elves, rude toward the hobbit (not in front of the druidess for obvious safety reasons but still) and his temper was getting the best of him more times that it should. Whatever the grey wizard wanted to accomplish with this dwarf, it didn't look good.  
He sighed and decided to wait with the two shirelings. His little mate was back to plucking the strings on her lute and it looked like the hobbit was back to contemplating their surroundings. He heard the heavy steps coming from afar : two dwarves were approaching, with someone else : Mithrandir had eventually found Thorin and surely his advisor so they could finally tell him why they were here.  
Elrond wasn't naive enough to think the Company was just here for the hospitality. Now he was going to find out why exactly Mithrandir was here and why he thought it was necessary to bring 13 dwarves with him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The song is from Erutan. If you have the occasion to check it on Youtube, it's a beautiful song.  
> And yeah ! I'm slowly starting to get a hold on editing on this site. \o/
> 
> Elven gardener 1 : "Flying dwarf !"  
> Elven gardener 2 : "Again ?! What's wrong with them ? Dwarves can't fly ! And what the... Is this Glorfindel beloved rosebush ?"  
> EG 1 : "Yes, it looks like it is."  
> EG 2 : "And why is the dwarf in the bush ?"  
> EG 1 : "Landed in it. And now he's stuck."  
> EG 2 : "What a shame... Let's go check the apple trees over there and see if we will have a good harvest this summer..."


End file.
